Pretty When You Cry
by orange-sunshiine
Summary: Odin sends Loki back to Earth, minus his powers, as a punishment for all he's done. He lands on Stark Tower, and Tony has no intention of letting Loki off easily. WARNING: contains torture, non-con, male/male sex. Rated accordingly.
1. Chapter 1

Ch. 1

Odin's punishment for Loki was quite simple. The trickster was to be stripped of his power and sent back to Midgard permanently. Odin didn't have it in him to kill his adopted son, but surely, the humans that he'd tormented would do him in if given the chance.

The final piece of the punishment was a spell, cast by Odin on Thor, that made it so that the blonde would get violently ill if he were to come near Loki. As angry as Thor was at Loki's actions, Odin knew that the warrior would inevitably protect his brother if necessary. So, he made it impossible.

The path through the realms was opened mere moments after Loki's punishment was announced, and the dark haired ex-god was cast down.

00

Loki landed on top of the roof of Stark Tower. He'd have laughed at his father's choice in location, had he not been in agonizing pain. It was hailing, the air was freezing, and Loki felt like he could barely move. Everything hurt. His first thought was that the pain would be very temporary. His magic would help accelerate the healing. But then, he remembered...

The ex-god felt like he wanted to cry. Even doing that would hurt, though. Instead, he resolved to lay there, and hope that perhaps death would take him quickly. His mortal form would be unable to withstand the cold and the injuries. It was only a matter of hours, maybe minutes now.

And then, a sound interrupted everything. A door had opened. There were footsteps. Using the last of his energy, Loki turned his head, only to see Tony Stark standing above him.

00

Loki blacked out after that. Thus, he didn't recall Tony carrying him into the tower, bringing him to the medical center, and treating his wounds. Most were broken bones, and superficial cuts. There didn't seem to be any internal bleeding, which was great, because Tony really didn't want to have to call Bruce in. He could handle setting wrists and ankles and disinfecting wounds on his own.

The only real worry was the apparent concussion that Loki had sustained.

So, after he was finished working on Loki, Tony used carbon steel fiber to restrain his arms and legs to the bed. He then set JARVIS to monitor the trickster continuously. The AI was to let him know if there were any changes in Loki's breathing and heart rate. Meanwhile, Tony retreated to his lab, intending to find out the story behind this unexpected visit. Discreetly, of course. He definitely didn't want anyone to know that Loki was there.


	2. Chapter 2

Ch. 2

If one knew where to look, the answer to where Loki had come from was quite easy to find. And Tony, being the genius that he was, knew exactly where to look. It'd only taken a few minutes for him to find information on the bright lights that had been recently seen over the New York skyline. Nerdy bloggers had been all over that. Anyhow, these lights looked very similar to those that had appeared when Thor had first fallen to Earth.

'This must've been his punishment,' Tony thought to himself. 'Rather than hurt Loki himself, Odin will let the humans do it. Well, he definitely sent him to the right person.'

See, as calm as Tony Stark could appear to be, he still harbored a deep feeling of rage towards Loki. He'd destroyed most of Manhattan, killed hundreds of people – all because he had some daddy issues?! Tony couldn't accept that. Life was hard. Lots of people had crappy parents, parents who weren't there for them or just flat out didn't care at all. Tony was one of them. And he was fine, right? He wasn't going around, wreaking havoc on innocents.

Loki's punishment would be horrible. By the time Tony was done with him, the trickster would be praying for death. Tony really couldn't wait to get started.

00

Loki still wasn't awake yet, so Tony used the time to prep.

He was planning on keeping Loki in a room, deep, deep under the tower. It was small, dark, and sound proof. He'd used it a few times to practice when he made new suits, as not to bother Pepper or anyone else within the building.

Tony had then wheeled Loki down to it. He left him lying on the gurney, and had shackled the gurney to the wall. He then checked one last time, to make sure that Loki's restraints were adequately locked. They were. Now, all he had to do was wait.

00

Loki didn't wake up until late the following afternoon. JARVIS had alerted Tony of it, and Tony had raced to the basement room. He found Loki staring up at the ceiling, a confused look on his face. He didn't bother to turn his head when he heard Tony enter.

"Looks like Sleeping Beauty's awake!" Tony said, shutting the door behind him.

Loki snorted. "Come on, you can do better than that, Stark."

"Considering the position you're in, I'd advise you not to piss me off."

Loki did consider this, and, realizing that he really was unable to move, said nothing else.

"Now," Tony started, "We're going to lay down some rules. One rule, really."

Loki sighed. "I'm listening."

"Good. You will do exactly as I say. Failure to comply will result in a punishment."

Loki couldn't help but smirk. "Looking for a sex slave, Stark?"

Tony shook his head, then got closer to Loki. He gripped the ex-god by the neck, effectively choking him.

"You are not that lucky," Tony hissed. He kept his grip until he saw Loki's face start to pale, then let him go.

Loki began to cough and pant, trying to recover.

"Now, let's see how you do after a few days with no food."

With that, Tony walked out.


	3. Chapter 3

Ch. 3

Loki didn't know how long he'd been there. There were no windows, so he really had no way of telling.

All he knew was that as time went on, he felt worse and worse.

First, it'd only been his limbs that hurt. This made sense, as he'd broken bones in both arms and both legs.

Then, he started to feel a pain in his stomach. It started as just an annoyance, but it began to get worse. Soon enough it felt like there was a gaping hole inside of him. His intestines burned and his stomach growled. He felt unable to focus on anything else besides this horrible feeling.

Eventually, Loki realized what it was: hunger. He'd never felt it before. As a young prince, he'd always had more than enough food available whenever he wanted it. But even if he hadn't had it, it wouldn't have mattered. Being a god, he could live for days, months, probably years without eating if he had to.

Hours ticked by. The burning feeling turned to nausea, but Loki found it difficult to vomit, as he was lying on his back. In the end, he'd spit out some type of burning, clear liquid. Stomach bile, he assumed. The dizzyness and weakness followed soon after.

00

Tony didn't come back until 36 hours later. By then, Loki was barely conscious. He was severely dehydrated, and covered with dried spit and pieces of vomit. He was too weak to even acknowledge Tony's presence when he entered.

"Loki," Tony said, slapping the trickster's cheek.

Loki cracked his eyes open. "Stark," he rasped out.

"You're not lookin' so good. JARVIS, give me his vitals?"

The AI analyzed Loki for a few seconds before responding.

"Mr. Laufeyson is severely dehydrated and malnourished. His heart rate has slowed. His organs will begin to shut down unless he is properly nourished."

Tony considered this.

"I could just let you starve to death," he said, "But... that wouldn't be fun. No, no. I want your punishment to last a while. I'll be right back."

Tony left the room, and Loki contemplated what torment the man had in mind. It made him nervous, but he resolved not to show it.

00

Tony returned a few moments later with two gallon sized water jugs. He put one down on the ground, but began to open the other.

"Since you're so thirsty, I figured I'd hydrate you."

With one hand, Tony gripped Loki's face, forcing his mouth open. Loki tried to protest, tried to keep his jaw clenched shut, but Tony was too strong. He held the bottle over Loki's mouth and began pouring water down his throat.

At first, it felt good. Loki was incredibly thirsty, and as the water traveled into his stomach, it made his hunger pains subside a bit.

The relief was momentary, though. As Tony forced more water into him, he began to choke. He simply was unable to breathe. He tried to cough, but couldn't. He began to panic.

Not wanting his captive to die, Tony stopped pouring the water for a minute, allowing Loki to catch his breath. When he was satisfied that Loki had gotten enough air, he began again.

Now the water pouring into Loki was beginning to hurt. He could feel it filling his stomach, making him extremely uncomfortable. If he had been able to vomit, he would've. There was nothing he could do, though.

Loki closed his eyes, and clenched his fists as Tony finished emptying the last of the gallon of water into him. When it was over, he took several breaths. He could feel how distended his stomach was. Tony confirmed this, stating that he looked "four months pregnant".

Luckily for Loki, Tony decided that he'd had enough fun for now. He left the other water bottle on the floor, and walked out, promising to return later.

00

As Tony sat at his desk, several stories above, talking to Pepper, Loki lay on the gurney, wishing more than ever that Odin had simply killed him outright.

He'd just had quite an embarrassing incident. All the water in his body had to go somewhere, and he'd ended up both peeing and shitting it out. He could feel it drenching his clothing, and he wanted to cry. In fact, he did cry. The AI that he knew was there didn't say anything, at least. He was grateful for that. He preferred to be alone in his misery. Still, just knowing that something could see what he'd done bothered him.

He just... hadn't been able to control it. He'd called for Stark, but his cries had been ignored. He hadn't been able to hold it any longer.

In less than two days, Tony Stark had managed to destroy any dignity that Loki might've had. The ex-god was terrified as to what would happen next.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS RAPE. Do not read if this bothers you.**

Ch. 4

"Mr. Stark, there has been an incident on the lower levels," JARVIS explained. That was the code that Tony had come up with for anything related to Loki: 'an incident on the lower levels'.

Pepper raised an eyebrow at this statement.

"What's on the lower levels?"

"Ah, nothing. Just some prototypes that I've been working on. Dummy probably knocked 'em over."

"O...kay," Pepper replied. She believed the story, even though it sounded a bit forced.

"I'll see you for dinner later?" Tony asked, getting up.

"Yes. Seven. Be on time!" Pepper reminded him.

"Yeah, yeah. See ya then." He pecked her on the lips, and began his descent into the basement.

00

The door to Loki's room – or cell, rather – swung open, and Tony walked in. Loki remained with his eyes closed, not wanting to see his captor's face when he discovered what had happened.

It didn't take long for Tony to figure it out.

"Ew, gross. And here I was thinking that you're an adult, and able to control yourself."

Loki clenched his eyes shut even harder, and tried to block out Tony's words.

The inventor didn't stop there, though.

"Well, now the question remains: What do we do about this? I suppose the right thing to do would be to clean you up, so that your wounds don't get infected."

Loki couldn't help but cringe at the thought of this, of Tony Stark seeing him naked, and wiping the urine and feces off of him like he was some infant. He'd rather that the man kill him than have to face that type of humiliation.

"But," Tony continued, "You _do_ need to learn a lesson. We'll see how much you like being dirty after you've laid in your own filth for a while. Then, _maybe _I'll clean you up."

Loki said nothing. He didn't know what to say, really. Tony was going to do as he pleased no matter what.

"Yes, I think that's the way to go. A couple of days surrounded in shit and piss will do you some good."

The next thing Loki heard was the door opening and closing, as Tony left the room.

00

The hours passed by, Loki laying in the same position as always. Everything on him had dried by now, and he was somewhat grateful for that. Still, he was starting to feel hungry again, and dizzy too. His wounds also hurt, as did his body from the total lack of movement. He wished badly that he could at least stretch a little.

For a while, Loki considered whether or not it was possible to will ones body to shut down. He actually attempted this, for several hours, to no avail. It was quite the disappointment.

Tony finally reappeared some time later, after Loki had fallen asleep. He instantly made a move to wake him up.

Loki opened his eyes to see Tony glaring at him.

'Fuck. I'd hoped it was just a nightmare,' he thought to himself.

"Trying to get some beauty sleep? Even a century of it wouldn't help someone as disgusting as you," Tony said.

Loki just stared at him, his eyes asking the question that his lips wouldn't: what do you want?

"Anyway, Pepper's got a headache tonight, so I figured that I'd find some entertainment elsewhere."

Loki's mouth dropped open a bit. He didn't like where this was going.

"But I'm not touching you until you're clean. So..." Tony held up a sponge, and a small bucket of soapy water. "Let's get started."

00

After Tony had patched Loki up, he'd dressed the wounded man in a pair of light blue hospital scrubs. Loki tensed as he felt Tony's ice cold hands pulling the pants down, exposing his skin to the freezing cellar air. Tony unhooked the restraints, to pull the scrubs all the way off.

"Tsk tsk," Tony started, "Look at how filthy you are."

The next thing Loki knew, Tony had started scrubbing his thighs with the sponge. The soap burned his cuts, and the rough sponge scraped his delicate skin. Tony then moved on to Loki's more intimate areas, scrubbing his cock and balls, before turning Loki's body slightly. He parted the ex-god's ass, and cleaned that as well, the same way one would clean a baby.

It made Loki want to vomit again. He could feel his face flush red as Tony touched him, and again, he wished for death.

Tony must've been able to tell how much the act bothered Loki, because he dragged it out, taking an extra long time to clean him up.

When he was finally done, tears had begun to run down Loki's face.

"Aw, baby's going to cry?" Tony taunted him.

Loki sniffed, and tried his best not to let any more tears fall.

"Big bad Loki's upset about having someone touch him? Maybe he shouldn't have shit himself, then."

Loki bit his lip, desperately trying not to cry any harder. It would only make Tony taunt him more. He just wanted Tony to do whatever he had planned and to leave him be.

Tony shook his head, "You're all clean now,_ baby_. Now we can get started."

The inventor climbed on top of the gurney, straddling Loki and pinning him down. He leaned over and removed the restraints on Loki's wrists. Since Loki's legs were free already, Tony easily flipped him over, so he was now lying on his stomach. Then, quickly as he could, Tony once again restrained Loki's hands.

Tony ran a finger over Loki's bottom, making him shiver.

"You're pretty, you know that?" Tony said, pinching him, "So pretty. Especially when you're crying like that." He smacked Loki's ass, causing Loki to wince.

Loki could hear Tony moving to unbuckle his belt, and he heard him throw his pants to the ground.

"JARVIS, turn off cameras for this room."

"Yes, Sir."

Tony then focused his attention back on Loki.

"So pretty," he whispered.

Loki tried to focus on his breathing. He knew what was coming. He could hear Tony touching his cock, rubbing himself to get erect. Seconds later, he felt the bed dip again, as Tony once again climbed on top. Then, where was agony.

Tony had shoved himself inside Loki's tight hole at once, causing his tissues to rip and tear. Loki couldn't help but cry out in pain. His insides were literally being torn apart.

"Ahh," Tony sighed, "So fucking tight."

Soon blood began to pour from the tears. Tony, being ever efficient, used it as a lube.

He pumped, in and out, harder, deeper, finding himself becoming even more aroused each time Loki whimpered, or cried out.

Tony lowered himself a bit, biting Loki's shoulder blade. He bit deep enough to draw blood. With one hand, he pulled Loki's long, dark hair.

"You know you like it, you dirty whore. You love being fucked. It's what you're made for. It's your only purpose."

Before Loki could stop himself, he'd murmured a reply.

"No..."

"No?" Tony began to laugh. "Then what are you good for? Your family hates you. Your people laugh at you. Your own biological father left you to die. You couldn't conquer Earth, either. Not even with the help of the Chitauri. Face it, you're useless otherwise."

Tony's words stung Loki tremendously. The Iron Man was right. What was he good for? Nothing. Nothing besides allowing stronger men to enjoy a quick fuck.

The inventor finished soon after, coming deep inside Loki. He then flipped Loki back over, restrained his legs again, and left the room.


	5. Chapter 5

Ch. 5

Tony was creative with his methods of torture, each one designed to cause both physical and psychological anguish. His ultimate goal was to break Loki down completely, and he was definitely getting there.

Two weeks after his arrival at the tower, Loki no longer felt any sense of self worth. He no longer considered himself a prince, someone to be respected. No. Now he didn't even consider himself worthy of a proper meal or a glass of water. He'd done horrible things, and this was his well-deserved punishment.

00

It'd now been a week since the last time Tony had given Loki any food. He'd given him water, but only one glass per day. He seemed to be starving the trickster for a reason, though Loki wasn't exactly sure why. All he knew was that his stomach hurt constantly, and that he was sleeping all the time. Really, his body just didn't have the energy to function at a normal level.

Secretly, Loki hoped that this would continue. In another few days, his organs would fail, and he'd die, and then he'd be free. But, deep inside, he knew that he didn't deserve such a beautiful freedom such as death, and he knew that he wasn't going to get it, either.

He was right.

On the eight day, Tony appeared, holding a large, closed container.

Wordlessly, he undid the restraints on Loki's arms, and helped him into a sitting position.

Loki swayed a little, the act of having to sit up being too much for him in his weakened state. It took all of his energy to keep from falling back over. Seeing this, Tony kept one arm on Loki's shoulder, holding him in place.

"So, I've been thinking," Tony began, "That I probably haven't given you enough food."

Loki glanced up at Tony, feeling confused. Of course he hadn't had any food. Tony had made sure only to give him water.

"So I brought you some food." Tony put the container, which Loki now realized was some type of tupperware type thing, on Loki's lap. Tony then opened it, revealing pasta.

The smell of it made Loki's mouth water. He'd never particularly enjoyed Midgardian food, but he was so hungry that he'd have eaten anything at that point.

Still, there had to be a trick here. Tony wouldn't just let him eat food. There had to be more to it.

"Go on," Tony said. He put a plastic fork into Loki's left hand – his left arm was only fractured, so he could still move it. "Eat."

Loki eyed Tony warily, then looked at the food, then back at Tony. The inventor looked very calm.

Unable to see any glint of potential evil in Tony's eyes, Loki reluctantly began digging into the food. He wondered if Tony had begun to have a change of heart, but he pushed that thought away as fast as he could. There had to be a catch. There always was. He might as well just enjoy the few moments that he'd have before Tony brought out whatever punishment he had planned.

After a few bites of food, Loki took back what he'd thought about Midgardian fare – the pasta tasted amazing. He couldn't even begin to describe how wonderful it felt to be able to chew something, to feel it fill his stomach.

For his part, Tony merely watched him eat, not looking particularly happy or angry.

Eventually, Loki didn't want any more. Having not had any food for so long, his stomach had shrunk. He'd barely eaten a quarter of what was there.

He put the fork down, and said nothing, hoping that Tony would let him be.

Tony looked him over, then spoke up.

"Are you sure you don't want any more?"

Loki shook his head 'no'.

"Speak to me when I ask you a question," Tony snarled.

Loki could feel the anger radiating off the other man, now, and he decided to obey.

"I'm not hungry," he whispered.

Tony nodded. "Hmm. But it's been over a week since you've had anything."

Loki shrugged slightly.

"And I spent some of my precious time making this for you."

Loki looked up at Tony, and suddenly had an idea as to what was coming.

And, he was right.

"I think you should eat more of it," Tony stated, "In fact, I think you should eat all of it, so that I know that the time I spent making this wasn't wasted."

Loki's hand was shaking as he picked up the fork again, and he slowly began eating little pieces of the pasta. He hoped that if he took long enough, Tony would get bored and leave him alone.

That wasn't happening, though. Tony seemed to have infinite patience when it came to punishing him. The billionaire stood by, watching as Loki managed to finish half of the container.

The ex-god really wasn't feeling good, now. His stomach hurt. Being over-full was almost as bad as being starving.

He looked at Tony, eyes begging for Tony to let him stop.

Tony just smirked. "Did you not understand my instructions?"

The tone in Tony's voice was threatening, so Loki shook his had 'no'. He began eating again, trying to force down as much as he could.

As he got down to the last bits, Loki groaned. He felt sick. There was just no way he could finish the rest of the food. Instinctively, he moved one hand to his stomach, trying to rub himself to make himself feel better. He regretted this when he felt the pain shoot through his forearm, where it'd been split in half previously.

Tony looked the scene over.

"Can't eat any more?"

Loki slowly shook his head 'no'.

"Hmm." Tony thought for a moment.

Before Loki even knew what hit him, the other man had gripped his face, forcing his mouth open. He stuck two fingers into Loki's mouth, and reached as far down his throat as he could. Loki tried to bite him, but the action made his gag reflex kick in. Within seconds, Tony had removed his hand, and Loki was vomiting into the almost- empty container on his lap.

Once he'd started throwing up, Loki found that he couldn't stop. He continued to heave until it felt like his stomach was entirely empty, and now, the container was almost full again.

As he coughed a few more times, and spit out some stomach bile, Tony spoke up.

"Well, now it looks like you've got room for more, then."

Tony picked up the fork that Loki had dropped when he'd first started getting sick, and pushed it into Loki's hand.


	6. Chapter 6

Ch. 6

Tony's punishments were all harsh, but there was one, above all, that was the most cruel.

He'd been inspired by the movie A Clockwork Orange for this one. It involved a chair with arm and leg restraints, a big screen television, and the most potent acid that Tony could get hold of.

The whole thing was quite simple, really. He'd hooked up the television, restrained Loki in the chair, and had slipped two tabs of acid onto his tongue. He then held Loki's mouth shut, forcing him to swallow.

Two sets of ophthalmic forceps kept Loki's eyes open, forcing him to watch hours upon hours of footage of the damage that he'd caused.

Tony knew that in this case, Loki's worst enemy would be his own mind, and he was right. As the acid took effect, Loki began a terrible trip. The ex-god trembled and begged for forgiveness as he imagined those that he'd killed rising up, coming towards him, their decaying flesh dripping off of their bodies. The Chitauri surrounded him as well, everyone and everything reaching for him, demanding that he pay for his sins.

He screamed and cried and pissed himself and shit himself. Tony wasn't particularly surprised by any of this.

And the torture lasted for hours. And the next day, it was repeated again. And again the day after that.

Things had been going on as they normally did on the fourth day, when JARVIS suddenly interrupted.

"Sir," the AI said, "There are visitors in the building. The other Avengers have arrived upstairs."


	7. Chapter 7

Ch. 7

"The rest of the Avengers have arrived upstairs."

"Fuck," Tony replied. They'd come at the worst possible time. "Did they say why?"

"Apparently Director Fury has grown tired of you not returning his calls, and sent them to find you."

Tony sighed. He _had_ been ignoring Fury lately. He'd actually been ignoring almost everyone, even Pepper. He'd been enjoying his new toy too much.

Well, all he could do now was try to get them out as quickly as possible.

"Tell them I'll be right up, that I'm finishing something in my lab. Then lock this room down, make sure the soundproofing is activated. Do not, I repeat, do not let anyone besides myself in here."

Tony took a second to glance at Loki, who was trembling in fear. He was on another bad trip, and there was no telling what hellish nightmare he was experiencing.

"And JARVIS?" Tony added.

"Yes, Sir?"

"Kill the television. He can go the rest of the day without it."

"Will do, Sir."

"Thanks."

00

Tony rode his elevator up to the first floor, where he found his superhero colleagues waiting.

"Hi, guys," Tony said, "Listen, you can tell Fury I'm just busy. I'm sorry I haven't gotten back to him, but – hey, what's wrong with him?" he asked, looking at Thor.

The blonde warrior was sitting on a chair, crouching forward. His arms were wrapped around his stomach, and he looked to be in agony.

Bruce looked concerned. "He was fine when we were over at SHIELD HQ..." he kneeled down, and began poking and prodding at Thor, trying to assess the situation.

Everyone else watched nervously. Thor had begun to sweat, and tremble.

Bruce checked his pulse rate.

"His heart's going way too fast. We need to get him to the medical clinic. Tony, I'll talk to you later, after we've sorted this. Clint, can you help me bring him in?"

Clint nodded. He got on one side of Thor while Bruce stood on the other, and together, the two helped the blonde walk down the hall towards the elevator.

Steve, Natasha, and Tony followed behind them.

"Any idea what the hell that was about?" Tony asked.

Steve and Natasha both shook their heads.

"He really was just fine at HQ," Steve said.

By the time they got into the medical area, Bruce already had Thor laid out on a bed. He must've acted very fast. He was busy hooking Thor up to various machines to test his heart rate, blood pressure and the like. Thor, meanwhile, just laid there, letting Bruce do as he pleased. It frightened everyone a little to see someone who was normally so strong in such a weak state.

"Can he talk?" Tony asked Bruce, who was reading the machines.

"I think he's too weak."

Thor then made a sound, a weak, whining sound, and everyone turned their attention to him. He seemed to be trying to say something.

"What's going on?" Clint asked, moving closer to Thor's bedside.

Again, Thor tried to say the name that was on his mind: Loki. He was obviously getting sick because Loki was nearby. No one seemed to be able to understand him, though. The whole experience was extremely frustrating.

He tried to speak a few more times, desperate to get his message across. Finally, though, Bruce put an end to it.

"He could be hallucinating, responding to something that he thinks is occurring or pain that he's feeling. I really need time, guys. I need to run more tests. And you shouldn't be in here... if whatever got him is contagious, everyone might be at risk."

Everyone gave each other worried glances, and began to walk out.

"Let us know if there's any changes," Tony said.

Bruce agreed, and the rest of the Avengers left.

00

Clint, Tasha, Steve and Tony all gathered on the upper levels of the building. Pepper joined them soon after, and Tony began pouring some drinks.

"I hope Thor's okay," Steve said, stating what was on everyone's minds. "That was just so strange! He was fine until he got here."

"Maybe it's some weird Asgardian illness that didn't effect him 'til now?" Tony offered. The suggestion didn't help much.

"Well let us just hope that Banner can figure it out," Tasha answered. "And any way, we came here for you, Stark."

"Fury can go fuck himself. I've been busy."

"With what? None of us can get through to you lately. It's like you're cutting yourself off," Clint said. "What's going on that you can't take five minutes to talk to the people who _helped save the world with you_?"

Tony sighed. He'd been having JARVIS re-route his calls so that he wouldn't be interrupted during his sessions with Loki. Clint was right, he probably should've paid more attention to the others.

"I've been very busy working on a project," Tony replied.

"What kind of project?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, can you be any more vague?" Clint added.

Tony had to think fast.

"It's... It's a modification to my armor. Instead of having several suits for different purposes, I'm trying to combine everything into one suit. It'd be... ya know, more efficient for fighting the baddies."

The answer seemed to appease the other Avengers, and Pepper as well.

"I'm sure Fury would understand that, then," Clint said, " Just call him back. You're lucky he didn't show up himself."

Tony considered how bad it would be if Fury walked in during one of his torture sessions... not that Fury could actually get down there, but still...

"Yeah, you're right. I'll make more of an effort."

There was a silence as everyone sipped their drinks. It was interrupted by JARVIS.

"Sir, Doctor Banner has stabilized Mr. Odinson. He requests your presence in the Medical Center."

00

The group, including Pepper, made their way down the hall, into the elevator and towards the Medical Center. They were greeted by a very worried looking Dr. Banner.

"Why the long face? I thought you stabilized him?" Tony asked.

Everyone looked through the glass doors, and saw Thor lying on the bed, apparently asleep, though hooked up to many machines.

"I finally managed to sedate him," Bruce said, "But that's all I've done. It took a massive amount of drugs. He seems to be getting worse. It seems like there's some type of virus attacking him, but I can't identify it, so I'm not sure how to treat it. It doesn't seem to be contagious at least. I'd like to move him upstairs, if that's alright with you."

Tony knew what Bruce meant. On the top level of Stark Tower there was a medical room, filled with the most up to date equipment on the market. Usually when employees got sick, they went to the regular medical center. The top floor was reserved for when other Avengers needed help.

"Of course. I should've thought of that sooner. Didn't realize he was so bad off," Tony replied.

"Great. I just need a few minutes to disconnect the machines...I'll meet you up there in ten."

"Sure. See you then."

00

On the topmost level, Tony, Tasha, Steve and Clint watched as Bruce hooked Thor up to an extremely elaborate looking machine. Thor's heart rate showed up on the monitor, and Bruce, for a moment, looked stunned.

"What's going on?" Tasha asked, confused by Bruce's expression.

"His heart rate... it's back to normal. Hold on, I need to check something." he began frantically hooking Thor up to yet more machines. When the results came up, Banner again looked stunned.

"His blood oxygen levels are fine, now. Before he was barely getting enough oxygen. His blood pressure's stabilized...if he weren't sedated, I'd think that he would be walking around completely cured right now."

"How is that possible? To just heal like that?" Steve asked.

"I have no idea. I've never seen it before."

"Maybe the equipment downstairs was malfunctioning?" Tony offered.

Banner shook his head. "I checked his pulse with myself, using my own fingers. His heart rate was through the roof. Either whatever he had has passed through his system somehow, or something closer to the lower levels was making him sick."

"Maybe he can tell us more when he wakes up," Tony replied. Though, if he was being honest with himself, he was starting to get an idea as to what the problem might be. Unless he found some way to get Loki out of the cellar, he knew that this would not end well.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Sorry, this story is taking a lot out of me. Am updating as fast as I can.

Ch. 8

Thor had woken up faster than anyone, even Bruce, had thought he would. With the amount of sedatives that he'd given the warrior, he'd expected Thor to be out for another 12 hours, easy.

So, everyone was surprised that Thor was walking around a mere fifteen minutes after he'd been first brought upstairs. Tony wasn't particularly pleased. This made any attempt at getting Loki out of the building even more difficult. He couldn't exactly just sneak Loki out in front of everyone. So, he did the only thing he could think of : hoped that they wouldn't find him before nightfall. At least after dark, he might have a shot.

Thor was quick to speak up, though. The first words out of his mouth were "My brother is here."

Everyone (except Tony) was understandably confused.

"What do you mean, Loki's here?" Bruce asked. "How can you tell?"

Thor shook his head, feeling annoyed at having to explain the difficult situation to everyone. He had no choice though.

"When I took Loki back to Asgard, the Allfather decided to punish him by removing his power and banishing him to Midgard, to live amongst the people that he tried to destroy. I had no idea where he'd fallen. Allfather refused to tell me. All I knew was that if I were to get too close to Loki, I would become ill. Obviously, he is nearby."

"And... you didn't care to mention that he'd been sent back here to anyone?" Clint asked. He was a bit pissed off about that. Loki _had_ controlled his mind and all.

"And allow you all to find him and hurt him? No, no. I know how you feel. You all despise my brother. I am angry with him too, but I would never hurt him."

No one had much to say to that. They knew that Thor was right. But if Loki was hiding out in Stark Tower, they definitely had to find him.

"Anthony," Thor said, coming closer to the inventor, "Do you know where my brother is?"

Tony shook his head 'no'. "No idea. And I have no idea why my security system wouldn't pick him up, either."

Thor sighed. "My brother... even without powers, he has ways of being very sneaky. We will just have to look. I will sacrifice myself for this."

"No, no. There's got to be another way without you becoming horribly ill again," Bruce replied.

"No way will find him faster," Thor countered.

"Can't JARVIS do a security sweep of the building?" Bruce asked Tony, desperate to keep his friend out of harm's way.

"Technically yes, but again, Loki evaded the system already."

"Enough of this. We will move floor to floor. The closer we get to him, the sicker I will become. You will know to keep going from there." Thor was adamant about this.

"Fine," Bruce agreed, "But the second we find him we're bringing you away so you can recover."

"That is fine."

So, the Avengers began to sweep the building. On the top ten floors, Thor remained well. As they got closer to the first floor though, things began to change. He could feel himself becoming weaker, the further they went. Finally, he collapsed when the elevator hit the third floor.

"He has to be nearby," Bruce stated, "JARVIS, send the elevator back up to the top floor. Allow Thor to recover. We will search the last three floors."

"Yes, Mr. Banner," the AI replied.

To speed things up, Steve, Bruce, and Tony took one side of the floor while Tasha and Clint took the other. They worked quickly, but searched thoroughly.

When they finally got to the first floor, and had yet to find anything, Tony spoke up.

"Well, this is it. Guess he's not actually here." He hoped that maybe the other Avengers would take the bait and let it go. After all, they didn't know his tower like he knew his tower.

Everyone agreed, but felt defeated. They had just made their way into the elevator when Bruce thought of something.

"Wait a minute, your lab is in the basement."

"Yeah, and?"

"We didn't search the basement."

"He definitely won't be down there. My lab is monitored by JARVIS more so than any area of the building."

"But, it's the only place we haven't searched," Bruce replied. He hit the emergency stop button, stalling the elevator in between floors.

"And I'm telling you, he isn't down there." Tony pushed the button to restart it.

"Ya know, I don't like your attitude." Bruce hit the stop button again, then changed their destination to go to the basement instead of the top floor.

Not wanting to cause any more suspicion to be cast upon himself, Tony kept quiet. Maybe the others wouldn't find him.

But, he was wrong. He'd hidden Loki in a room that was set behind a door that was very visible from anywhere in the lab. Sure, it was sound proofed, but it stuck out like a sore thumb. When Natasha noticed it, Tony knew that he had no other option but to let her in. What else could he do? The others would take him down before he could get his suit on. For once, he was powerless.

So, Tony reluctantly opened the door, standing back as he did so. Maybe he could make a run for it while they were distracted by what they found.

Natasha was the first to enter, and also the first to speak.

"Oh my God... is he even alive?"

00

The next few minutes seemed like a blur to everyone.

Tony had tried to run. He'd gotten as far as down the hallway before Clint managed to catch up to him and pin him against a wall, pointing an arrow against his neck.

Tasha had been there in a matter of seconds, making sure that Tony stayed in place while she called Fury for backup.

Meanwhile, Bruce and Steve set to examining Loki.

The condition they'd found him in was horrifying. Strapped to the bed, Loki was shaking, breathing erratically, and covered in what looked like a mixture of blood and mud. Or at least, what Bruce hoped was mud. He was thin, too. So thin. Had it not been for the dark hair and the green eyes, Bruce wouldn't have recognized him. He was almost skeletal.

The ex-god's arms and legs seemed to be wrapped in plaster casts, while a dirty, torn ace bandage was wrapped around his ribs, which were sticking out all too promenantly.

It was then that Loki truly caught sight of the two others in his room.

He began to scream. Loudly. It actually hurt Bruce and Steve's ears. The two men jumped away, unsure of what to do. Then Loki stopped.

The next time they worked up the courage to get near him, they found that he was crying, and mumbling something at the same time. They could barely make out what it was, but when they realized, it made both of their heart's ache.

Loki was repeating, over and over again, the same two words.

"_I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry._"

00

Fury had wasted no time in sending his agents. He may have been a gruff, often mean man, but he trusted the Avengers, and if two of them were saying that Stark had done something so terrible, he believed it. Still, he had intended to make sure that Tony had a fair trial of some sort.

As the agents put Tony into handcuffs and walked him out, Bruce and Steve began the process of freeing Loki and transporting him to the medical center. The good one, on the top floor.


	9. Chapter 9

Ch. 9

Bruce would've preferred to have examined Loki alone, just because of how intrusive the exam might be. He'd have to undress Loki to clean him up and check his wounds.

However, Loki put up a fight whenever Bruce tried to get near him. He was surprisingly calmer in Steve's presence, though. Something about Captain America must've calmed him, because he often stopped fighting if Steve was nearby. Bruce couldn't explain it, and he didn't really want to right then. His first priority was making sure that his patient was okay.

"Loki," he said, in a calm, cool voice, "This is Bruce. That's Steve. Do you recognize us?"

Loki was lying on a hospital bed, now. Lying against the clean white sheets, Bruce and Steve could see how truly filthy and bruised the man was.

"Yes..." Loki whispered, hoarsely.

"Good. As you know I have medical experience. You are very injured. I need to examine you. Do you understand?"

Loki shut his eyes, and Steve noticed a single tear fall down his cheek. He nodded his head ever so slightly in agreement.

"Good. Steve, can you get me clean, wet towel? We're going to get some of the grime off of him."

Steve nodded, and began to move from the bed to get the requested item, when he felt something stop him. Loki had reached out, and was weakly grasping his shirt with his left hand. Loki looked up at him, pathetically, eyes begging him not to leave.

"Uh... Bruce," Steve said, moving back towards the bed. "I think he wants me to stay."

"I'll get what we need," Bruce replied.

He returned soon after, towel and a small basin of water in hand.

00

The exam had revealed some scary results. Bruce had counted fifty one bruises and cuts on Loki's body. His left arm was fractured, as were both of his ankles, and his right arm was broken in three places. His shoulder was dislocated. Two ribs were broken. Blood pressure and heart rate were too low, he was dehydrated, and when they finally managed to get him on a scale, he clocked in at 116 pounds, much to low of a weight for someone of Loki's height.

The exam took a lot out of Loki. He seemed to desperately want to sleep, but was too afraid to. Bruce had ended up giving him a sedative to knock him out. Loki needed the rest.

Steve now looked down at the dark haired man, who was sleeping peacefully, his breathing having evened out. He was cleaned up, now, and even though he was thin and sick and torn up, Steve couldn't help but think that Loki looked beautiful, in a weird sort of way.

Steve pushed that thought away as quickly as possible. He couldn't think like that. He had to protect Loki. That was his job. Especially since Loki had essentially 'chosen' him. He couldn't let the man down.

Steve stayed by Loki's side for the next several hours, until Bruce finally dragged him away.

00

It turned out that Bruce had wanted to perform two more checks on Loki, before he woke up again. He didn't want Steve to be there for them. He explained that he didn't think that Loki would've wanted Steve there for them, either.

So Steve waited outside the room. Bruce finally came back out, a grim look on his face.

"What's the verdict?"

Bruce took a deep breath. "I did a quick internal exam on him. He shows signs of having been sexually assaulted. There were tears in his rectal area. Also...I checked his mouth, as well. His throat is raw. That's probably why his voice is so hoarse. It's bad. I'd expect to see that type of deterioration in someone who was bulimic. It makes me think that someone was forcing him to be sick, or something was making him sick repeatedly."

Steve cringed. He wondered if Tony had truly raped Loki. And had he made Loki get sick? After the wounds he'd seen... he wouldn't have put it past Tony.

But, that didn't matter right now. The other Avengers, and SHIELD, would make sure that Tony was punished appropriately. For now, what was important was making sure that Loki got better.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Not sure if this is going to end up being Steve/Loki slash or just friendship or what but if either of that bothers you you may not want to continue reading. Figured it was only fair to warn you. Steve is kind and caring and understands what it is like to have the shit kicked out of you, so I figured he'd be the best person to take care of Loki.

Ch. 10

Even though Tony had been taken away to SHIELD HQ, and was therefore far away from Stark Tower, Bruce still didn't want to keep Loki there. Staying in the same place where he was raped and tortured would not help the ex-god's psyche.

Still, most of society still hated Loki, and he did require a good deal of medical attention. The solution was for Steve and Bruce to wait until nightfall, before loading up one of Stark's delivery vans full of whatever supplies Bruce deemed necessary, and sneaking Loki out that way. They'd go to Steve's apartment since Bruce did not have a permanent residence in the city.

This had been more easily said than done, though. Loki was terrified of everything and everyone around him, clinging to Steve as if his life depended on it – and in Loki's mind, it probably did.

So, Steve had ended up guiding Loki out, armed wrapped around the smaller man's body, holding him up as he tried to walk. Loki's legs trembled and he almost fell a few times. After the third time, Steve decided that it was simply easier to carry Loki out. He scooped him up, and carried the trickster out to the van bridal-style. Steve then put Loki into the middle seat, and sat in the passenger seat next to him. Loki put his head on Steve's shoulder, and Steve didn't have the heart to shake him off.

Bruce was kind enough to drive the van to Brooklyn, though the ride itself was very quiet. Bruce kept his eyes on the road, and Loki simply stared up at Steve. Seeing the look of fear and hurt in Loki's eyes, Steve laid a hand on Loki's knee, trying to make him feel somewhat secure.

00

When the arrived at the apartment building, Steve once again carried Loki inside. He only lived on the first floor, so it wasn't too far a walk from the van.

Steve carried Loki into his bedroom, and laid him down on the bed.

"You can rest here, and you'll sleep here too," Steve explained. "I'll sleep on the couch."

Loki nodded in agreement, but said nothing. Steve noticed that he was shivering, though. He walked towards a small closet in the corner of the room, and pulled out two blankets, then brought them over to Loki.

"You cold?" he asked.

Loki didn't answer. He looked terrified, though. Really, all Loki could think was that he'd be punished if he admitted being cold. Maybe he'd be left outside... it was so cold that night, he'd surely freeze to death. Or maybe there'd be some other, worse torture. A tear fell down his cheek as he thought about this.

Steve sighed. "I'm not going to hurt you, if that's what you're thinking. I don't know what Stark did to you, but I'm trying to help. If you're cold, I'll give you a blanket. That's all."

Loki considered Steve's statement. The Captain had been honest with him thus far. Might as well give him a chance.

"I'm a little bit cold," Loki whispered, so softly that Steve could barely hear it.

Steve smiled at him. "There ya go. Good job."

The Captain took the first blanket, unfolded it, then covered Loki up in it, tucking it around him. He put the second blanket on top of that.

"Better?"

Loki nodded.

"Good. Get some rest. I'm going to help Bruce move everything in. I'll come check on you when we're done."

Feel warm and comfortable for the first time in weeks, it wasn't long before Loki fell asleep.

00

Around 3am, Loki started screaming.

It wasn't a normal scream. It was ear piercing and pitiful at the same time. He sounded almost like a wounded animal.

Steve and Bruce, who'd decided to crash at the apartment, woke up immediately. They both dashed into the bedroom, only to find Loki crouched in the corner of the room, looking terrified.

Bruce had inserted an IV into Loki's arm after he'd fallen asleep, in an attempt to get some liquid and nutrients into him, and the pole, bag and needle now lay on the floor, alongside the blankets that Steve had provided.

"Loki, what happened?" Steve asked, moving closer.

Loki pressed himself further up against the wall, before speaking.

"Go away!" he begged, "What else can you take from me?! Please! I said I was sorry... God, I'm so sorry..."

"Loki, what's goin-" Steve started, but Bruce grabbed his shoulder, making him shut up.

"He probably had a nightmare. He thinks we're going to hurt him," Bruce explained.

"Oh."

"We just need to remain calm."

"Okay."

"Loki, it's us, Bruce and Steve. You know us," Bruce said, kindly as possible, "You know that we're not going to hurt you. We only want to help you."

"Please don't hurt me...I've been good, I promise," Loki continued to beg, "I swear, I won't cause any problems."

Bruce held his hands up so that Loki could see that he was not holding anything, and Steve did the same.

"Neither of us is going to hurt you. See, we don't have anything at all. We just want to help you. Will you let us help you?"

Loki stared at the two men for another moment, as if debating the veracity of Bruce's statement.

Finally, his head slumped forward, and Loki fell to the floor, curled up and began to cry.

It hurt Steve and Bruce to see Loki this way. Steve was the first to step forward.

He kneeled down next to Loki, and gently rested a hand on Loki's back.

"Hey, buddy," he said, "It's okay. It's alright, I promise."

Steve could hear Loki whimpering nonetheless. He sighed. "I'm going to pick you up, okay? And I'm going to carry you back to bed."

Steve then reached down, and lifted Loki into his arms, again taking note of how horribly thin the man was.

Loki clung on to him the instant that Steve had picked him up, and he didn't fight it when Steve carried him back.

As Steve laid Loki down, and began to tuck him back in, Loki spoke up again.

"Someone stuck me... last night, with a needle..." he glanced towards the IV line that had been discarded on the floor. "...Why?"

"That was me," Bruce said, "We came in to check on you and you were already asleep. You're in desperate need of nutrients and hydration... He must not have fed you very much down there. I put the IV in to try to get some of that into you, so that maybe you'd feel a little stronger in the morning. I'm sorry, though, I should've woken you up to tell you."

"Oh."

"I'll wake you up next time."

"Alright."

By then, Steve had finished getting Loki tucked in. He moved to stand up, but a frail hand caught his arm, so he stopped.

Loki looked at him with the saddest, most frightened eyes he'd even seen on someone. And he only said one word.

"Please?"

Steve knew what he meant.

"Don't want to sleep alone?"

Loki slowly shook his head 'no'.

"Alright, then. Let me get some extra blankets."

00

At first, Loki had been sobbing, holding onto his pillow shaking and crying and Steve really didn't know what to do. He eventually did the only thing he could think of – he held Loki close to him.

Loki tensed up when he first felt Steve's arms snake around him, but, when the soldier made no move other than to hold him, he calmed down. He still feared that Steve or Bruce might take advantage of him like Stark had, but he was trying to remain logical. Steve and Bruce had only been kind to him so far. Steve was probably just trying to comfort him now.

Loki had to admit that it felt good to have someone touch him in a caring fashion. Being near Steve made him feel safe to an extent. Soon enough he'd stopped crying.

Steve moved in a little bit closer as Loki calmed.

"You okay?" he whispered.

Loki nodded, and snuggled closer to Steve. Carefully, he rested his head on Steve's muscular chest, sighing when he felt Steve's strong hands start to stroke his hair.

"It's okay. You're okay," Steve whispered, continuing to run his hands through the smaller man's dark hair. He wasn't even sure why he was doing it, it just felt right.

Steve heard Loki sniffle, then start to breathe normally. Taking this as a good sign, he continued to silently comfort him, until sleep came for both of them.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: A few people sent me PMs asking about the origin of the title of this story. It's from the song "_Pretty When You Cry_" by VAST. It's a wonderful song, very creepy and dark, and the official video is just as dark. I would suggest looking it up.

Also this chapter was fun to write. My dad did acid in the 60s and ended up having flashbacks until he passed away, so it's somewhat based on personal experience, except that my dad's flashbacks weren't terrifying. Rather he tended to see happy little leprechauns and random animals.

Ch. 11

When Loki woke up the next morning, the spot next to him on the bed was empty. Steve wasn't there.

At first Loki thought that perhaps he was being punished, or that Steve simply couldn't stand to be around someone as disgusting as himself. Both of those made sense in his mind.

Then he noticed that something looked different about the room. The walls, which were previously white, were now dark, and the window was gone. It looked a lot like...

Oh, fuck. He was back in Stark's dungeon. Loki couldn't help but to be afraid. His heart began to pound in his chest, and his hands began to shake.

Why hadn't Stark tied him down, though? It didn't make sense... until he saw it. The eyes. Dozens of sets of whitish yellow eyes, located on the faces of decaying corpses. They were on the other side of the dungeon, and slowly closing in. Green, brown, and black flesh dripped off of their bones, and their bodies were covered with torn clothes and gaping wounds. It was the people he and the Chitauri had killed, back from the dead. Back to make him pay for his actions. He'd been left untied so that they could easily get to him, so that they could watch him struggle.

Fast as he could, Loki got off the bed. He tried to make his way towards the door, but it was difficult, as he was very weak and had so many broken bones. It was a horrible, suffocating feeling to want to move so badly, to want to run away so badly, but to be unable to. To be forced to crawl along as literal monsters closed in.

After an enormous amount of effort, he got to the door, and began to claw at it, desperately trying to get it open. Loki reached up and began to turn the door knob. It caused him extreme pain, as he'd used his right arm – the one that was broken in several places. But it was worth it. The door began to open, slowly, god, why was it taking so long?! And then he could see light from outside. All he had to do was get out, and then he'd be free.

Loki pulled the door open another inch. He was so close. So, so close.

But then, the monsters reached him. One of them, a man with a large hole ripped through him, shoved the door closed.

None of them spoke. They just closed in, their skull like faces grinning as they attempted to bring about their preferred method of justice.

00

Steve and Bruce were in the kitchen, getting breakfast together, when they heard the blood curdling screams. Both dropped what they were doing, and ran to the bedroom. Bruce tried to push the door open, but it was stuck.

"What the hell?" he asked, confused.

"Maybe he blocked the door?" Steve offered. "Hey, Loki, are you okay?" he called out.

The only answer was another scream.

Not wanting to waste any further time, Steve pushed on the door, causing it to fly open.

The two men walked in to see Loki curled up in the center of the room, a few feet away, crying and shaking. Someone had opened the door, but they'd ended up pushing him away, into the crowd of zombies. At least, that was what he thought was going on.

Concerned, the two men got closer, but when they touched Loki he began to yell even louder. Bruce could make out that he was shouting "I'm sorry" repeatedly.

Then, suddenly, the screaming stopped. Loki still lay there, trembling and crying, but now he was talking softly, asking only that whoever was attacking him would "please make it quick".

00

"What was that all about?" Steve asked.

Loki was back in bed, Bruce having injected him with a sedative soon after they'd found him. He couldn't think of any other way to break Loki out of his psychotic trance.

"It was a psychotic episode."

"Why?"

"Because he was tortured for weeks on end. Do I really have to spell it out? But I think there's more to it. Torture victims may have flashbacks but rarely do they react in such an extreme way. The only other thing that I can think of is that its drug related in some way."

"You think Tony… I mean, Stark, was giving him drugs?"

"Maybe some type of hallucinogen. It's smart, really. One's own mind can become a dangerous weapon under certain circumstances. I'll have to test his spinal fluid, though, besides the regular blood based tests."

So Steve ended up helping to turn Loki over while Bruce stuck him with needles. Bruce had hoped the sedative would keep Loki out during this process, but he began to stir a little. Realizing how Loki might freak out again, Steve tried his best to calm the dark haired man down.

"It's okay," he whispered, as he began gently carding through Loki's hair. "Just stay calm."

The words and touches helped, because Loki didn't flinch after that, and Bruce was able to get the samples that he needed. Steve stayed nearby for the rest of the morning, afraid to leave Loki alone lest there be another episode.


	12. Chapter 12

Ch 12.

Several miles away, the other Avengers were busy interrogating Tony once again. Fury was there, as well, watching.

"I'll ask you again. Why didn't you turn him over to us when you found him?" Natasha was getting impatient. Tony had been keeping quiet since he'd first been brought in.

Tony said nothing.

"I'm getting tired of playing this game, Stark," she warned.

"Fine," Tony replied. He was getting tired of this, too. "You want to know why? Because I knew that SHIELD would just keep him in a cell. He'd be served three meals a day, and he'd get help if he was sick, and he'd be treated like a _fucking human_, even though he's a goddamn murderous sociopath. I wanted to make sure that he got what was coming to him!"

"You obviously did a number on him," Fury stated. "He's sick, and underweight, and he seemed to be very scared. You tortured him. Tell us exactly what you did."

Tony considered this. Thor was standing right outside of his cell, staring at him, pure rage evident in his eyes.

He decided not to answer.

Fury was not happy with this.

"Stark, I said tell us what you did. Unless you'd prefer to rot here forever?"

Still, Tony didn't speak.

Finally, Fury had had enough. He turned to the other Avengers.

"Mr. Banner called me this morning. His examinations revealed that Loki was tortured for several weeks. He was denied food, subjected to numerous experiments involving illicit drugs – experiments designed to force him into terrible hallucinations. He shows signs of being sexually assaulted, as well."

Thor had begun to shake, his rage overtaking him. He grabbed on to the bars separating him from Tony.

"You raped my brother! You defiled him! You starved him! I will kill you, Stark! But I will torment you first, just as you did to him!"

Tony couldn't help but flinch. He was very glad for the bars separating them. They were made from the same material that Loki's restraints had been made from, and were virtually unbreakable.

Thankfully for him, Fury pulled Thor away a moment later. He walked Thor, along with the others, out of the room, and Tony breathed a sigh of relief. What he didn't see, was that behind the closed door, Fury had 'accidently' dropped the key to the cell. And of course, Thor had quickly swiped it up.

00

Loki slowly began to come out of his pharmaceutical-induced sleep later in the afternoon. He didn't particularly want to – it was nicer when he was sleeping. He didn't feel pain as badly, nor did he really feel fear or sadness.

He changed his mind about waking up, though, when he noticed that Steve was sitting by his side.

"Wakey wakey," Steve said, smiling at Loki as his attempted to rub his eyes.

"Steven."

"That's me, yes."

Loki stared at him, waiting a few seconds before speaking up again.

"I apologize...I just hadn't expected you to..." he trailed off. He really hadn't expected Steve to be there. Who would want to be near someone as filthy as himself? Even at his best he was way below the standard for what any of the Avengers, much less Captain America, would want as a friend.

"I just wanted to make sure that you were alright. You had a bit of an episode before."

"Oh." That explained things, then. It would be less of an inconvenience for the Captain to just stay there rather than have to deal with one of his outbursts... or whatever had happened. Loki could not really remember it too clearly. Something about zombies was all that came to mind. He really didn't want to bring it up, either. Knowing the details would just humiliate him further.

"I'm sorry if I caused any damage to anything," Loki mumbled, under his breath.

"No damage to anything but yourself. We were worried about you. Bruce gave you some medicine to make you sleep."

Loki nodded, refusing to make eye contact with Steve.

Steve stared at him nonetheless. He couldn't help but think of how proud Loki had once been, and how broken he was now. It made him feel a bit sad. Loki may have done some horrible things, but no one deserved to be tortured the way that he had been.

There was another silence, before Steve remembered Bruce's instructions.

"Um, Bruce wanted me to... to help you out into the other room when you woke up. Said you should try to eat a little and that it might be good for you to see somewhere else besides the same four walls."

"Alright."

Steve smiled, "Great. I'll be right back."

The Captain got up, left the room, and returned a moment later with a wheelchair.

Loki took one look at it, and shook his head.

"No."

"Well you can't walk on your own so we thought it'd be easier if-"

"I said no."

"Then the only other option is if I carry you out."

Loki sighed. "I'm not hungry. I'm fine in here. You can leave now, I'm awake and I'm lucid and all is well."

"All is not well. You're injured and weak and you're horribly underweight, and I don't particularly care if you're not hungry or you like it in here, if Bruce says you're to come out and eat then that is what you're going to do."

The sternness in Steve's voice frightened Loki a little. He didn't want to make the blonde angry, he just hadn't wanted to be pushed around like some invalid. He then glanced up to see Steve glaring at him, and he began to get nervous. If Stark was capable of...of all that he'd done, what was to say that Steven wasn't? Or Banner? Maybe it was best just to concede.

"Alright...I'll go," Loki whispered.

Steve smiled again. "Good. Come on, then."

Strong as he was, Steve was surprisingly gentle as he helped Loki out of bed and into the wheelchair. He said nothing as he wheeled Loki out to where Bruce was waiting in the living room.

"Ah, glad to see you're awake," Bruce said.

Loki nodded, but said nothing.

"I have some food for you. Nothing too much, don't want you to get sick, but just something small," Bruce continued. "I'll go get it. Thought maybe you'd like to eat out here with us."

Loki nodded in agreement. Better to just agree and to keep them happy, then disagree and have them turn on him.

Bruce got up and went to the kitchen, returning soon after with something in his hands. He set it down on the coffee table, and set down three bowls next to it.

"So I made some spaghetti, you don't have to eat a lot of it, just a few bites will give you energy and-"

Bruce was interrupted by the sound of Loki retching at the sight of it. Steve was confused, but rubbed Loki's back, as he threw up stomach bile and drips of blood all over the living room floor.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Sorry for the delay updating this, I've been extremely busy with life/work. Anyone want to help me with some ideas with where to go with this? It started it as a way to have fun tormenting Loki, but I am honestly stumped on where to go from here. Should Loki fall in love with Steve? Should they be friends? Should Tony end up in a coma? Or should Tony come back and re-capture Loki somehow? I'm leaving this on a cliffhanger until I can figure it out. If I use your idea **_**I will most definitely credit you for it**_**.**

Ch. 13

After Loki had finished being sick, Steve had helped him back to bed, while Bruce stayed back to dispose of the offending food and clean up.

As he pulled the blankets over Loki, Steve noticed again how terribly frail the man was. It was clearly going to be a long, hard road towards getting him back to normal, or even some semblance of it. The first step would have to be figuring out what triggered Loki's outbursts, and why. From there, they could help him heal.

When he was finished tucking Loki in, Steve took a seat next to the bed. He stared at Loki, hoping that the ex-god would speak first. Maybe make some attempt to explain what had just happened.

But there was nothing. Loki merely sat up hunched over, staring down at his hands.

So, Steve decided to take the lead.

"Want to tell me what just happened?" he asked, softly.

Loki shook his head slightly, but made no verbal reply.

"If you don't talk to us we won't be able to help you."

Loki sighed, and mumbled something, but he spoke so softly that Steve couldn't hear it.

"I couldn't understand you."

Loki sighed again, and swallowed nervously. He then looked up at Steve, staring at him straight in the eyes.

"I said that I don't deserve your help." A single tear ran down Loki's cheek. He didn't want to cry, to show such weakness, but he couldn't help it. He was confused and torn. He didn't understand why these people were going out of their way to care for him. It didn't make sense.

Steve, for his part, was not all that shocked by this statement. Considering the physical and mental torment that Loki had gone through at the hands of Stark, and considering all of his past issues with his family before that, it wasn't surprising that Loki saw himself as lower than dirt.

"You deserve our help," Steve replied. He took hold of Loki's hand, noting that it was trembling now.

Loki sniffled, and then glared at Steve. "I attacked your planet and killed your people. How can you possibly think that I deserve mercy?"

Steve thought about this for a moment before speaking.

"You deserved to be punished for your actions, but not like this. What Tony...I mean, what Stark did was wrong. It was torture. We will not tolerate that."

"It doesn't make sense. My own family pushed this upon me. If they cannot forgive me, than you should not either."

Steve frowned. This was getting nowhere.

"Loki, we're trying to help you. We're going to keep trying to help you, whether or not you think you deserve it. You can both accept it, and heal faster, or you can continue to question it and slow things down."

Loki nodded, feeling slightly better when Steve squeezed his hand. To an extent, Steve reminded him of his brother. Both were strong, blonde, and righteous. And of everyone on Asgard, Thor was the only one who would've tried to help him.

Taking a deep breath, Loki decided that he might as well do as Steve had suggested. He'd only gotten a few words in when the bedroom door swung open. Bruce walked in with a strange look on his face. He stood in front of the bed, facing Loki and Steve.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I just got a phone call from Fury. We need to talk."


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: I think I know where I am going to go with this now. Sorry for the delay. Have been working a lot lately. I would like to thank EVERYONE for their reviews, they truly mean a lot. Specifically, I'd like to thank SanguineNoctis, xsillyrabbitzx, BeatrixRosier and the guest who wrote the really long review. I don't know your name, but thanks! I'll be incorporating elements of all of these reviews into the coming chapters, so again, thank you so much for the ideas, you are all awesome.**

Ch. 14

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I just got a phone call from Fury. We need to talk."

Steve looked down at Loki, then back up at Bruce.

"Um, do you want to discuss whatever this is here?"

Bruce understood what Steve meant. It might not be best to discuss anything having to do with the other Avengers around Loki. Considering the massive flashback he'd had earlier, he might react badly to any type of stress, even if it had nothing to do with him.

"Yeah. You're right. Meet me outside."

Loki didn't say anything when Steve stood up and proceeded to walk out of the room. He himself was not sure that he wanted to know what was going on. If it was something bad, he wasn't sure if he could take it.

Steve met Bruce out in the living room. There was no way that Loki could hear them talking there.

"What happened?"

"A few things. For one, Thor's gone."

"What? Where'd he go?"

Bruce sighed. "Fury said that one of the guards dropped the key to Tony's cell while Thor was nearby. Of course, Thor picked it up. He got into Tony's cell and was about three punches in when Tasha walked in."

"Well, I can't say I'd blame Thor, all considering."

Bruce frowned, "We're supposed to be better than that."

"I know. I know, it's just… Loki's a wreck. I can't imagine how it would feel knowing that my sibling had been through something like that. But, you're right."

"Tasha thought the same," Bruce continued, "She told him to stop and he did. Then he stormed off. No one can find him."

"That's not good. No one has any ideas where he is?"

Bruce shook his head. "SHIELD is looking into it. Fury had called because he wanted us to ask Loki if he had any thoughts on it, but it might not be the best idea right now. Making him worry about his brother won't help Loki's situation."

Steve bit his lip. "Maybe we should just give it a few days. Thor can take care of himself, after all."

00

It had not taken Thor that long to get to the top of Everest. He could have spoken to Odin from anywhere, and the Allfather would have heard him, but Everest seemed right. Thor was enraged, and the height of the mountain matched the anger in his heart.

There was no one at the summit, thankfully. He stood alone on top of the snowy, windy ledge and called out.

"Father!"

There was no response. Not that Thor had really expected one.

"I need to speak to you! It is urgent!"

Nothing.

"Father, I have always been good to you. Please let me in!"

It was then that a tear seemed to develop in the fabric of the sky. Before Thor even knew what hit him, he was being thrown through the space at an incredibly fast rate. He passed stars, comets, other planets of the realm before arriving at Asgard.

Specifically, he arrived in front of his father's castle. He landed on his feet, but the impact was so hard that even he could not take it. Thor collapsed to his knees. It was a decent amount of time before he was able to stand up and continue his journey inside.

00

When Steve returned to the bedroom where Loki was, he found the ex-god staring at the wall.

"Sorry about that," Steve said.

Loki just shrugged.

Steve wasn't really sure how to proceed. If Loki asked what had just been discussed, he'd probably make up some lie, but Loki did not seem to be all that interested in the details.

"So…" Steve started, trying to gauge how Loki was feeling. He had hoped that Loki would say something. Anything. But that did not seem like it was going to happen.

"Is there anything I can get for you?" Steve finally asked, after a few more minutes of silence.

"Something… maybe to help the pain?" Loki asked, meekly as always.

"Oh. Yeah. I'll ask Bruce for something. What hurts?"

Loki looked up at him, and his eyes spoke the answer. Everything hurt. Obviously.

"Nevermind," Steve said. "I'll be right back."

00

Bruce set Loki up with a morphine drip. The medicine helped a lot, but it also made him very tired.

Steve had sat with him for most of the afternoon, not saying anything. At one point he'd dragged the television from the other room in, and he and Loki had watched re-runs of Looney Tunes. It had been one of Steve's favorite cartoons as a kid. Loki did not seem to mind it either.

"I like the rabbit," Loki said, after watching one of the cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny. His comment was so quiet that Steve had to strain to hear him.

"He's one of my favorites too. And I like Tweety."

This caused Loki to smirk. "You like the little bird?"

"Yeah. Can't really explain why. He always made me laugh."

Loki rolled his eyes, but said nothing else. The time passed peacefully, and Loki fell asleep a few episodes in.


	15. Chapter 15

Ch. 15

While Steve and Loki were watching cartoons, Bruce was on the phone with Clint. There had been no news on where Thor had gone. Clint was currently updating him on Tony's status.

"Thor busted him up pretty bad. Knocked out one of his teeth. He's still in the cell and was given basic medical treatment but nothing more."

"Seems fair," Bruce replied. "How long are they going to keep him?"

"No one's sure. Fury wants him to be put on trial, but we're trying to figure out which institution would be best to handle that. Torture is a crime against humanity, but Loki is technically not human. I mean, he is now, but he does not have human origins."

"Hm. Well as long as he's locked up."

"And…Loki? How's he doing?" Clint had not really wanted to ask about him. He did not particularly like Loki at all, but he thought that Tony's methods of punishment did go a bit far.

"Not good. He's a mess. Can't think of any other way to describe it. He has hallucinations… terrible hallucinations, and he is having a hard time keeping down food. Honestly...I'm not sure what to do. I can treat his physical symptoms but the psychological ones are a different story."

"Maybe we can see about getting him a therapist," Clint suggested.

"Maybe. I don't know if he'd even be able to trust them, though. He seems to be doing okay with Steve, at least, right now."

"Good. Well, I've got to go. I'll let you know if we hear anything about Thor."

"Likewise."

"Bye."

00

On Asgard, Thor was making his way towards his father's chambers. He had a lot to discuss. He found his father sitting, waiting for him to arrive.

"Thor."

"Father, I must speak to you about Loki."

Odin sighed. "I assumed that was why you were here."

"I must tell you what has been done to him. Stark has tortured him! It is terrible. He is very sick, very weak."

The look on Odin's face was blank, icy almost. It bothered Thor that his father showed little emotion.

"I am not surprised by this," Odin finally answered.

"You know, then? Heimdall must've told you..."

"I know of what has happened to Loki, yes."

"Then you must stop it! You must bring him back, restore his power, let him heal!" Thor could feel his heart rate rise as he spoke, and a flood of anger pulse through his body.

Odin shook his head. "I cannot do that."

"You must! There is no other option! Loki could die if he's left there!" Thor took a step closer, coming within a foot of Odin. "Do you not care if he dies?"

"If he dies then he dies. Loki has gone too far. He has caused not only massive destruction here, but on Midgard. Nothing else has worked."

"How can you let your son die? Or is he not a son to you because he is not of your blood?"

Odin closed his eyes. Now at least, he was starting to show some semblance of pain. "I do not have a choice, Thor. We have tried many alternatives. When Loki caused problems here, he was forgiven. You yourself helped him, taking him around with your friends so that he felt that he was cared for. We have tried to punish him physically. He even punished himself when he let go on the Bifrost. If Loki cannot stop himself..." he trailed off.

"So that's it. That's all you're going to do. Sit there and let Stark take care of the problem for you. Well if you will not help him then at least give me the power to do so!"

"You know I cannot do that."

That was it. Thor held up Moljnir, ready to strike Odin. He raised the hammer and brought it down... but before he could even come within an inch of his father, the god had thrown him off, using his powers to throw Thor up against a wall.

Odin stood up.

"Do not challenge me, Thor. You will lose."

Thor got up, ready to take another swing when Odin threw him back again, pinning him to the wall.

Odin walked closer to his son.

"This is your last warning. I am doing what is necessary for the safety of the realms."

Odin released his son a few seconds later, causing Thor to fall to the floor. Knowing that Odin had him beat, he began to retreat. Perhaps there was some other way that he could help his brother. Perhaps the other Avengers could be of aid.

He was walking out of the castle when he saw Frigga appear. She began to follow him.

"Son," she said, softly.

Thor stopped and turned around. Though he was angry at his father he held nothing against his mother.

Frigga smiled at him, and took his hand. She placed a small golden charm necklace into his palm.

"Take this," she whispered.

Thor hadn't a chance to ask what it was. Right then, the sky had once again opened, and Thor was sent hurtling back toward Earth.


	16. Chapter 16

Ch. 16

Since Loki had slept on and off during the day, he had a hard time sleeping at night. It wasn't just that, though. The morphine had worn off and his body had begun to hurt again, and he was hungry but too afraid to ask for food. It didn't matter, anyway. Loki doubted that he would be able to keep anything down even if he did have food.

Steve had been with him for most of the day, sitting next to him and watching cartoons. Now that it was evening, he'd set up a sleeping bag on the floor so that he could stay nearby. Bruce was sleeping out on the couch.

Since it was quiet in the room, Loki assumed that Steve had fallen asleep. He sighed, wondering what he should do. Maybe he could quietly watch more television, or... well there wasn't much that he could do really.

"You still awake?" Steve asked interrupting Loki's train of thought.

Loki gasped, surprised at hearing Steve talk.

"Sorry," Steve said, sitting up. "I heard you sigh so I figured... ah, you get it."

"No, no, I'm sorry. I thought you were sleeping. I didn't expect you to speak."

Steve reached up above the nightstand and switched the lamp on. "It's fine."

Now that he could actually see Loki, he wished that he had spoken up a bit earlier. For the past two hours he'd been lying down quietly, trying to rest. He had been afraid to make much noise, for fear that Loki had fallen asleep and that he would wake him.

Loki looked horrible, though. There were dark circles under his eyes and his hands seemed shaky, even though he was just lying in bed.

"Are you in pain again?" Steve asked. Not that the answer wasn't clear as day.

Loki nodded 'yes' and Steve got up to go find Bruce. The two of them returned a few minutes later. Bruce was dressed in a set of boxers and a t-shirt and had a bag of saline in hand, along with a needle.

"Hey, Loki," Bruce said. He looked tired, as if Steve had just woken him up, but he still had a kind demeanor.

"I'm sorry if I woke you..." Loki whispered, casting his gaze down at his hands.

"It's no problem. Steve said that you're not feeling well?"

"No..."

"Alright. I'll give you a saline drip with some morphine as well. Unless you think that you can drink some fluids, then we can just go straight for the pain meds."

Loki didn't know what to say. He didn't think he could do it. The last time he'd tried to eat anything he'd thrown up and drinking would probably be just as bad. At the same time, he didn't want to upset Bruce or Steve either.

When he gave no answer, Bruce took it as a no and began setting up the IV.

"This will work for now but soon you'll have to start eating and drinking real food and water," Bruce said.

Loki did not reply. He sat there silently as Bruce set him up, not even cringing when Bruce had to use a needle to install a new port on his other hand.

It did not take long for the drugs to take effect. Steve and Bruce could both tell when they did, because Loki suddenly seemed much calmer than he had previously.

"Alright. Looks like I'm done here," Bruce told them. He looked at Steve. "Come get me if there's any problems."

"Will do."

Bruce padded back out to the living room, and Steve took his place on the floor next to the bed. It wasn't long before both he and Loki had fallen asleep.

00

The path that Odin had sent Thor on had crash landed him on a small island in the Pacific. Thor wasn't surprised. Odin was going to make it as difficult as possible for Thor to get back to New York, even if it merely meant slowing him down by a few hours by landing him in the middle of nowhere.

At least he had some time alone to inspect the necklace that his mother had given him. The island looked to be uninhabited.

Thor opened his palm, where he'd been holding the jewelry. It was a small golden charm shaped as a solar cross. He'd seen the symbol before, but was not sure what relevance it had to anything going on now. Still, his mother would not have given it to him for no reason. He slipped the necklace on, took a deep breath, then took off, heading East.

00

When Thor finally arrived, it was midday in New York. He made it to the SHIELD building within half an hour.

The first people that he'd run into were Clint and Tasha. They had been sitting in a waiting area talking quietly amongst themselves when Thor walked in. Both had quickly jumped up to greet him.

"Thor! Where've you been?" Clint asked.

"I met with the Allfather to discuss my brother."

"Oh. How did that go?"

"Not well. He is of no help. He wishes for Loki to suffer and die." A pained expression came across Thor's face as he said this. Clint and Tasha picked up on it immediately.

"That's... terrible," Clint said.

"I am very sorry," Tasha added.

Thor shook his head. "I will find a way to help my brother, even if it kills me to do so. Is he still with Banner?"

"Bruce and Steve are looking after him."

"Good. I must call the doctor, I have some questions for him."

Tasha was taking out her phone to give to Thor when the sirens went off. Various agents began flooding the hallways, heading up towards the floor where Tony was being held. Clint, Thor and Tasha followed them up.

They arrived to find the entire area in disarray, several guards lying unconscious on the floor, and a massive hole in the bars of the cell that Tony had been in. Worst of all, Stark was nowhere in sight.


	17. Chapter 17

Ch. 17

Tony had been in his cell, minding his own business when something caught his attention. There was a bead of light visible directly outside the bars. It expanded to the size of a basketball in a matter of seconds, and then expanded again and again. Then there was a loud BOOM, and a giant hole had been blasted through the metal. The blast had been strong enough to take down the guards posted nearby.

"What the hell?" Tony asked, climbing out of the cell.

He stepped through the hole only to see yet another bead of light form. This one was a different color than the first one and was larger. He tried to avoid it, but it was almost like a vacuum. It sucked him in.

The next thing Tony knew, he was flying. First above the building, then higher into the sky, then into space.

Panic set in quickly enough. He'd surely die that high up, if not from the cold then from the lack of oxygen in space. Yet, as he crossed out of the atmosphere, nothing happened. Something must have been protecting him.

Soon enough the force carrying him had brought him to his destination. He was outside of a large, clean, beautiful city, clearly on another world. The force let go of him about ten feet above the ground, and Tony managed to land on his feet. After that, he promptly bent down and threw up.

00

On Earth, everyone was running around trying to figure out what happened. Though to Thor, it was clear.

"He is on Asgard," Thor explained to Clint, Tasha, and Fury.

"What? Why? How do you know?" Clint asked.

Thor sighed. "Odin must have taken him. Only he could create something strong enough to do this. He has plans for Stark. He wants to ensure that Loki is gone once and for all. He's not going to let a human prison stand in his way."

"This is not good," Tasha said, "We must do something."

"Of course it's not good," Fury added, his tone rising to where he was almost yelling, "It's fucking terrible! Thor, you have to go get him back!"

This time Thor was the one to yell. "Do you not think I would if I could? Without the Bifrost the only way to return is through Odin. He will not allow me back, I am sure of it. Especially if Stark is there."

"Alright, calm down, all of you," Clint said, "We need to think logically here. If there's no way for you to get to Asgard then we have to protect Loki here from whatever your father and Tony have planned."

Tasha nodded, "I agree. That would be the best course of action."

"I cannot protect him!" Thor still sounded angry, "I cannot go near him."

"Clint is right," Fury said, "I have an idea. Tasha, you call Bruce, tell him to get Steve and Loki and to meet us on top of the building in an hour."

"But how am I going to –" Thor started, but Fury cut him off.

"If you can't be near Loki then we'll just have to separate you until we solve that problem, right? I'm going to have the agents take you to one of SHIELD's safe houses. This one has a small apartment nearby. You can stay near the team at least."

"Odin will know where we are -"

"We could stay here and wait like sitting ducks if you prefer," Fury said.

Thor sighed. "No… At least with everyone else there, my brother has a chance."

"Good. Tasha?" Fury turned to look at her.

"Already on it. Calling them now."

00

When Bruce and Steve found out what was going on, they had an important decision to make: whether or not to explain everything to Loki. He would have to find out eventually, but considering his current condition, the stress might do him in.

In the end they decided just not to mention anything specific unless he really pushed them for information. Hopefully he would not.

Steve started packing immediately, throwing a few days' worth of clothes into a bag for himself while Bruce did the same. For Loki, Bruce grabbed several vials of medication, a few pairs of sweatpants and some old t-shirts he had. They'd be big on Loki but for now they would work.

Loki did not say anything as Steve and Bruce ran around, trying to get everything organized. They finished with half an hour to spare. Now they had to find a way to get Loki over to the SHIELD building.

"Loki," Steve said, standing in front of the bed, "We're going to go on a little trip."

Loki was hooked up to yet another morphine drip, and but had come out of his daze having seen all the action going on.

"A trip?"

"Yes. We need to meet up with the team in thirty minutes."

Loki began to look nervous.

"I promise that it will be okay. We've packed some things for you. I am going to go get the wheelchair and we are going to go now."

"O…kay."

Steve walked out of the room, and returned a moment later with the wheelchair.

"Alrighty, I'll help you in." Best to try to keep calm, Steve thought.

Loki looked up at him, fear evident in his eyes.

"Is everything okay?" he asked, softly.

"It's fine. We'll all be fine. Let's get going though, okay?"

Loki nodded and allowed Steve to help him out of bed. Steve grabbed a blanket before they left a room and covered Loki's legs with it, just to make sure that he stayed warm.

00

Steve, Loki and Bruce made it just in time for takeoff. Fury led them to a private plane which Tasha and Clint were already on. Thor could get to the location by himself. He would meet them there.

Steve helped Loki into a seat as soon as they got on board. He watched as Loki looked around, still clearly nervous.

"No one will bother you," Steve whispered. He had taken a seat next to Loki.

Loki said nothing. He just continued to watch everyone.

Tasha noticed this too. She had been surprised when she had first seen him, cleaned up and all. He was still so sick and frail looking, like he might break if someone hugged him too hard. Maybe it was some weird maternal instinct, but she felt bad for him. When she caught him looking at her again, she flashed him a smile. Loki immediately turned away.

00

Hundreds of thousands of miles away, Tony had finally recovered his senses. He'd thrown up all over the grass that he'd landed on but was now well enough to start moving. He walked for close to an hour before coming to the largest building in the town. It looked like a castle.

"Might as well try this," he thought to himself.

He approached the main entrance, which he noted was guarded. The guards moved out of his way quickly, though, and opened the doors for him. Apparently someone was expecting him there.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: I know it has been a while since I first started this story. Just a reminder, so no one gets confused, the reason that Thor cannot go near Loki is because Odin cast a spell on him that makes him very sick if he gets too close to his brother. That is how the Avengers ended up finding Loki in Stark tower – Thor got sick on the lower levels because Loki was in the basement.**

Ch. 18

The castle was beautiful. Beyond anything Tony could ever dream of. It seemed as if everything was made with, or lined with gold. There were beautiful reddish tapestries on the walls. It was amazing. Tony could not think of any other word to describe it.

Once he had entered, on of the guards had led him through the hallways. The two walked for several minutes, making many turns and going deep into the castle. They finally stopped outside of a large set of beautiful chestnut colored doors, carved with intricate designs.

"The Allfather awaits you," the guard said, taking a few steps back. Tony did the same, and the doors opened on their own, revealing a golden room with a throne in the middle.

Tony slowly walked in, taking in his surroundings. In front of him he could see someone seated on the throne. An older but fierce looking man who wore an eyepatch.

As Tony neared the throne, the doors behind him swung shut. Odin stood up as Tony approached.

"Anthony Stark. I am glad that you found your way so easily."

Tony took a deep breath, and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "This... isn't real, is it? I mean it feels real, but this is kinda insane. Did Fury have me killed? Is this some weird purgatory or something?"

Odin laughed. "You are not dead, no. I brought you here."

"So that whole flying through space without any protection, that was all real?"

"I protected you. You would have died had I not."

Tony nodded. "Alright. If this is real, am I to assume that you are Odin?"

"Indeed, I am."

"Right." Tony began to feel nervous again. Odin was probably quite angry with him for what he had done to Loki. He began trying to think of ways to escape if necessary, glancing around the room to check out all of the possible exits. Not that running away would really help, not with an angry all powerful god chasing him, but still it made him feel better to at least consider it.

Odin read Tony's emotions very quickly.

"You need not fear me," he said, "I am not going to harm you."

"That's good to know."

"I've brought you here to discuss something important to me. Something important to everyone throughout the realms, really."

"Alright."

"I know that you have had contact with Loki."

Tony began to feel uncomfortable again. "I have."

"There was a reason that he fell on the roof of your tower, Anthony. I need you to do what I cannot. I do not have the heart to do it myself."

"And that is?"

"I think you know what it is. It pains me to help you in this task, too. I do care for Loki, very deeply, but he is of too much danger to Asgard and beyond. You must understand that we have tried everything. We have shown him love and kindness. We have physically punished him here. Loki has even punished himself to some extent, but he cannot stop his true destructive nature."

"You want me to kill him so that you don't have to."

Odin cringed and the bluntness of Tony' statement. It was true, though.

"I do not have it in me. At first I had hoped that your methods would have helped him. Perhaps would have made him change his ways. But upon further reflection I know that this is not the case. Loki will never change. This is why I released you."

Tony smirked and began to pace. He could not help but think what a perfect gig this could be. He'd continue to make Loki suffer, too. His anger at the torture brought on him by the Ten Rings, at Stane, Vanko and Loki had never dissipated. It had to go somewhere. Loki was the perfect target. To have Odin's permission to do it made it even better.

"It astounds me that Loki grew up in this magnificent place, having had his every need met and then some, only to become a mass murderer."

Odin closed his eyes and shook his head. For once he had nothing to say.

"Well, I'm fine with taking him out. More than fine with it," Tony continued.

Odin nodded. "I believe the rest of your... friends... have taken him elsewhere. I cannot tell you where... you see, Heimdall has been having some 'difficulty' seeing it all."

"I'm sure that I can find them. But, one last question." Might as well see what else he could get out of this.

"Yes?"

"What's in it for me? Besides offing a sociopathic murderer and all."

Odin sighed. "I fear that you are not all that much different from Loki. However, you are less of a threat. I promise you that there shall be a reward unlike anything you have ever seen."

"Hmm. Okay. Considering that you're all powerful and all, whatever you give me can't be all that bad. Send me back to Earth, then. And give me some time, I'll need to come up with a decent plan.

00

The flight to wherever the safe house was was long. About an hour in, Loki's nerves were beginning to get the best of him. He felt trapped. Completely trapped, thousands of feet in the air, inside the airplane, surrounded by people that he'd wronged terribly with no chance of escape.

Steve had been the first one to pick up on Loki's growing anxiety.

"Hey, it's going to be okay," he whispered.

Loki just looked at him sadly. Steve could tell that Loki did not believe him.

Bruce tried next.

"Hey, Loki, are you alright?"

Loki didn't answer. He did not know what to say. It was obvious that he was not alright, but he feared that voicing this would make the others turn against him. They would not have pity on him. He was sure of it.

Loki cast his gaze down to his hands and kept quiet. He wished he knew where they were going and what was happening.

After a few minutes of watching Steve and Bruce try to comfort Loki, and fail miserably, Tasha decided to give it an attempt. She stood up from her seat and walked over to Steve, but not before reaching into her bag and pulling something out.

"Move," she ordered.

"Excuse me?"

"I want to sit there."

"Why?"

Natasha held up the object in her hands so that Steve could see it. It was a black teddy bear with dark brown paws. Steve understood, then.

"Well, give it a shot. Maybe he'll respond to you better."

Steve moved out of the seat and let Natasha sit down. Loki was still staring at his hands when she did.

"Loki," she said, softly.

Loki glanced at her from the corner of his eye.

"Come on, I see you looking at me. I've got something for you."

Loki turned his head to look at her, curious about what she was talking about. Seeing this, Tasha smiled and held up the bear.

"He is a gift for you." she placed the toy in Loki's good hand.

Loki held the stuffed animal and looked it over, bewildered by it. A toy was the last thing that he had expected her to give him.

"Why...?" he asked.

Tasha shrugged. "I thought that perhaps you would enjoy it. It reminded me of you."

Loki nodded slightly. "Thank you, I think." Normally he would have laughed at such a stupid gift, but for some reason the toy made him feel slightly better. Not that he'd ever want to admit that.

After a few minutes of silence, he decided to speak up again. Natasha was still sitting there. Her presence was comforting. She did not seem likely to get upset if he asked a question.

"Where are we going?"

"You do not know? We are going to a safe house where you can be protected from Stark."

Loki's eyes grew wide. "He's...he's out?"

Natasha was confused. "Steve and Bruce did not tell you any of this?"

Loki slowly shook his head 'no'. He had been nervous before, but now he was terrified.

His thoughts were briefly interrupted by Natasha's voice.

"Steven! Bruce!"

The two men came over.

"You did not tell Loki where he was going?"

Bruce and Steve sighed at the same time. It was clear that Loki knew about everything, now.

"We were trying not to stress him out," Bruce replied. Obviously, that plan had failed. Loki's hands had started shaking and he looked like he was about to cry.

"Did you not think that he would find out?" Natasha sounded angry, now.

"We were hoping that we could tell him when things had calmed down a bit."

Tasha sighed. "It is not right to keep such information from him." She turned to look at Loki again. He still looked terrified. She wrapped an arm around him, and softened her tone. "Do not be afraid. We are all here to protect you."

Loki did not answer. The moment was tense for everyone involved. So tense that no one noticed Clint, sitting a few seats away, glaring at Tasha and Loki.


	19. Chapter 19

Ch. 19

When the plane finally landed it was late at night. The team had been told that they were in the Scottish countryside, far away from any large cities.

The plane had touched down on an airstrip hidden amongst the brush of a large field, and a few SHIELD agents led the team to a large house a bit further up. With no sidewalk, Steve was forced to carry Loki up to the house. He figured that Loki would have been embarrassed, had he been awake, but Bruce had sedated him after his panic attack on the plane had gotten worse. Bruce walked beside Steve, while Clint and Tasha walked behind them.

Clearly, the two were having some problems. Steve could hear them talking. Clint was asking her questions about her behavior towards Loki, and Tasha seemed to be getting annoyed.

"Where'd you even get that bear from? We only had an hour to pack!"

Tasha rolled her eyes. "SHIELD is two blocks from the Toys R Us. I stopped in. I had most of my things packed already."

Clint frowned. "I just don't think you ought to get so close to him. We don't know what he's capable of!"

"He is not capable of anything! Have you not seen how weak he is? He has no power. Loki may have done terrible things, but to torture him goes too far."

Clint was about to open his mouth to reply when they came face to face with Fury. He had been waiting in front of the house for them.

"Problems?" he asked Clint and Tasha.

"No," both of the mumbled.

"Good. So," he took a step back, to look at everyone. Steve was still carrying Loki while Bruce was carrying both his and Steve's luggage. "This is your safe house for the time being. You will find everything you need for day to day life inside. Food, running water, electricity. The only thing that is missing is phone and internet access, but that is for your own safety. It will make you harder to track."

"I'm sure that Stark is on his way already," Bruce said.

"Ah, I think Stark has some other problems to attend to." He looked at his watch, "You see, the laboratory area of Stark Towers caught fire after a gas explosion a few hours ago."

Everyone looked stunned.

"You guys blew it up?" Steve finally asked.

Fury shrugged. "Anyhow, Stark's suits were irreparably damaged."

"That's... awesome!" Steve said. "Gives us at least a few weeks!"

Fury nodded. "Yes, well, we'll continue to keep tabs both on you and Stark, should he return anytime soon."

"Great."

Bruce had just opened the door to let everyone in when a flash of lightening lit up the sky. Seconds later, something fell to the ground, not far from where the plane had landed.

"I see that Thor has arrived," Tasha noted.

Fury nodded again. "I'll go attend to him. You all get settled in."

00

As the group soon discovered, the house had several bedrooms. There were three on the first floor and two on the second. There was also three bathrooms, a huge living room with a big screen television and a kitchen that was fully stocked with every type of food imaginable. SHIELD really knew how to treat people.

Though there was enough room for everyone to have their own place to sleep, it was decided that everyone would take turns staying with Loki. Everyone except Clint. No one wanted to ask him to do that and he did not volunteer.

Since Loki was still asleep, Steve set him, and the teddy bear, down on a bed in one of the rooms on the first floor. It was big enough for at least two people, but there was also a small pull out sofa on the other end of the room as well.

Steve had just finished tucking Loki in when the ex-god began to stir. He opened his eyes and groaned.

"Where are we?"

"We're in Scotland. We're safe," Steve said, taking a seat on the side of the bed.

Loki nodded. "I fell asleep?"

"Well... you got a bit nervous and Bruce gave you something."

"Oh." Loki still looked exhausted.

"Why don't you just go back to sleep? I'll sleep on the couch over there so you're not alone."

"I'm not tired anymore."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Steve thought for a minute. "Do you want to go out and watch some television, then? Everyone else is up. We can watch something together."

"Maybe."

"It might get your mind off everything for a little bit."

"I guess it can't hurt."

Steve smiled. "Good. Give me a sec, let me go get the wheelchair and we'll go."

00

Soon enough Loki was settled on the couch between Steve and Tasha. Clint and Bruce were there as well, but on different chairs. Natasha had selected the movie Bolt, thinking that it was light hearted enough for Loki to enjoy.

In fact, he did seem to like it. The little white dog seemed to amuse him, though he mentioned a preference for Mittens the tuxedo cat.

At first Loki had been nervous about being so close to everyone. He still was not sure that he could trust them. But after an hour of no one bothering him whatsoever he let his guard down, just a little tiny bit. He had not liked it when Steve had gotten up to make popcorn, but seeing as how he returned shortly after, a panic attack was averted.

Loki had not intended to eat any of the food, but seeing everyone else eat it made him want some. It smelled good and it had been days since he had actually eaten anything. IV nutrients did not count. He reached his hand out tentatively and reached over.

Nothing happened. He reached the bowl of popcorn, grabbed two or three pieces, and quickly moved his hand back. It had hurt, considering the fracture in that arm, but being able to taste something was worth it. Loki just hoped that he did not get sick anytime soon.

Thankfully, nothing happened. He had not eaten much at all so it was not enough to truly bother his system. Loki wondered about trying again, but he did not want to make anyone upset. This was their food and he knew that he should not take it.

Steve, however, disagreed. He had seen what Loki did. It would be great if he could start eating on his own again, but he did not want to pressure Loki either. Instead he simply slide the plate closer to the dark haired man. It was a few minutes before Loki reached out and took a little bit more. He ate it. After that, there was nothing. At least it was a start though.

00

While the Avengers and Loki were watching the movie, Tony had returned to New York, only to find the bottom levels of Stark Towers on fire. The area was surrounded by fire engines and equipment as the firefighters tried to put out the blaze. Pepper was outside, too, standing a safe distance from the destruction.

"Pepper!" he said, coming up to her. She had a strange look on her face. As soon as Tony approached, she took a step back.

"What the hell happened?" Tony asked.

Pepper looked at him like he had three heads. "There was a fire."

"Well how the fuck did that happen?"

"Gas leak..."

Tony tried again to get close to her, but again Pepper took a step back.

Tony sighed, annoyed. "I'll need you to help me get the paperwork organized to start rebuilding ASAP. Did you take the safe with you?"

Tony was referring to a small portable safe that contained the plans for Tony's suits. If there was anything that he would have wanted to survive a disaster, it would be those.

He was surprised by Pepper's answer.

"No."

It just made him angrier.

"What do you mean, no? We've been through this a thousand times! If anything were to go wrong you were to take the box-"

Pepper shook her head. "Stop!"

This caught Tony's attention, and he shut up.

"Tony, I can't work for you anymore. I'm sorry."

"What?! Pepper you've always -"

Pepper put her hand up to silence him again. "I said that I'm sorry. It's not that I don't care about you, I just can't live with myself if I stay here knowing what you've done."

Before Tony could say another word, Pepper had started walking away.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: I feel like I need to explain this because people might not understand it but nausea, sweating and diarrhea are all symptoms of opiate withdrawal.**

Ch. 20

Everyone had retired to bed by midnight. As promised, Steve stayed over in Loki's room to keep him company.

Despite this, Loki had a hard time falling asleep at first. Again his body hurt, but it felt a bit different this time. Instead of just the regular pain he also felt nauseous and overheated. He couldn't stop sweating. On top of that, Loki found that he had to go to the bathroom every few minutes.

It was embarrassing, really. Steve and Bruce had been helping him with that when they were staying at Steve's apartment. Loki hated it, but he had no other choice. He could not move around by himself. For tonight, Steve had taken over the task. It seemed like he felt sick every fifteen minutes or so.

Steve was good about it at least. He never complained and he made it a point to give Loki some dignity by helping him into the room and letting him be until it was time to go. By the fourth time, though, Steve knew that something was wrong. He helped Loki back to bed and went to go get Bruce.

He found the doctor sprawled out on a bed in a room down the hall. He was sound asleep and snoring fairly loudly. Steve didn't want to wake him up, but felt that he had to. Loki was getting dehydrated again and was starting to feel very weak.

"Hey, Bruce," Steve whispered, rubbing the doctor's shoulder.

"Mmmph...go 'way," Bruce replied. He was still asleep.

Steve sighed. "Bruce!" he said, a bit louder. "Wake up. Loki needs help." He touched Bruce's arm again. This woke him up.

"What happened?" Bruce asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"I think Loki's sick. He's too warm and he keeps having to use the bathroom. It's making him weak."

"Okay. Let me get my stuff and I'll be right there."

00

By the time Bruce got to Loki's room, the ex-god had gotten sick again. This time he was throwing up into a small waste basket. Steve was rubbing his back, trying to calm him down. Considering he had not eaten any solid food besides a few pieces of popcorn, it seemed like water and bile were the only things coming out.

As soon as Loki was done, Bruce began his exam. Loki was warm, but he did not have a fever. It seemed like he had caught a stomach virus.

There was not much that Bruce could do to treat that. All he could do was ensure that Loki was hydrated by hooking him up to another IV of liquid. He added a morphine drip to that to help with the pain. As soon as the drug kicked in, Loki seemed to feel much better, and both he and Steve finally got a chance to sleep.

00

The two did not get to sleep all that long. Around four am, Tasha and Clint had started to argue. They were sharing a bedroom. Everything had been going well until Tasha had heard Steve going back and forth and talking to Bruce about Loki. She expressed that she hoped that Loki was okay, and that was what had set Clint off.

"Why do you care so much about him?!" Clint yelled.

"Because he's sick! I'd care for anyone of our team if they were in a similar position!"

"Loki's not on our team! He tried to kill our team!"

"He's suffered at the hands of one of our ex-teammates. He deserves some pity!"

"He took over my goddamn mind! Have you forgotten that?!"

By now, Clint had had enough. In a moment of pure rage, he punched the window. The glass immediately shattered, making a loud sound as it broke and cutting up Clint's hand in the process.

"MOTHERFUCKER!" Clint yelled, at the top of his lungs. He began kicking the wall.

Not only had this woken up everyone else in the house, but Thor had heard it as well. He had been awake, relaxing in the small apartment nearby when he had heard the screams.

It was pure instinct for him to run over to help. If his team needed him, he would be there. He made it to the house in time to see Steve pinning Clint up against the wall, trying to hold him back from hurting himself or anyone else.

"What is wrong?" Thor asked, confused by the situation.

"Clint has some jealousy issues," Tasha replied, angrily.

"He did not hurt my brother, did he?" Thor seemed to be getting nervous.

Tasha shook her head. "No. Your brother is still in his bed."

Then Bruce spoke up.

"Holy hell."

Tasha, Thor, and even Steve turned to look at him.

"What is it?" Steve called out. Clint was starting to calm down, making holding him back easier.

"Thor... Don't you see?"

Thor shook his head 'no'. "Just tell me!"

Bruce smiled. "You're here, and you're not sick. Whatever spell was on you has been lifted."


	21. Chapter 21

Ch. 21

"It must be the necklace." What else could it be? It made sense why Frigga had given it to him, now.

"Necklace?" Bruce asked.

Thor held up the charm that was around his neck. "My mother gave me this, but she did not tell me why. This must be it."

"Well... that's wonderful!"

"Uh, not to break up your little party, but I think we need to deal with Clint," Steve said.

Clint had stopped resisting, but he still looked extremely angry.

"Yes, yes," Bruce agreed. "Thor, why don't you go see Loki for now?"

"Of course!" Thor all but ran out the door, excited to see his brother. Meanwhile, Steve and Bruce led Clint into another room.

00

Thor came into Loki's room to find him lying flat on his bed with the teddy bear that Natasha had given him in hand. The dark haired man looked extremely peaceful now that he was sleeping, but Thor could tell that he still was not well. Loki was still very thin and frail looking, and some of his bruises remained. His bones had yet to heal as well.

Though Thor wanted to speak to Loki, to tell him that he was here now to protect him, he didn't have it in him to wake Loki up. He needed his rest. Instead, Thor sat at the edge of Loki's bed and began softly carding his fingers through his brother's hair. It was wild looking, obviously no one had helped him brush it in quite awhile.

"My poor brother," Thor whispered, looking him over. "You are so weak... but I am here to help you now."

Hearing this, Loki began to stir. He groaned and cracked his eyes open. Then he sat up.

"Wait... what?" he asked, shocked to see Thor. He rubbed his eyes, trying to see if he was dreaming. "Thor?"

Thor smiled. "It is me."

Loki was shocked. "How... how are you... is this a dream?"

Thor shook his head. "It is no dream. I am here to help you."

"But... how? Odin made sure..."

Thor noticed that Loki had started holding the bear close to him, as if he felt that the toy would protect him if this turned out to be some horrible joke. It was kind of cute, in a way, but it also was another representation of how weak Loki had become. The old Loki would have scoffed at the idea of a stuffed animal keeping away pain.

"Mother gave me a necklace when I was on Asgard. I didn't know what it was for, but now I do."

For the first time in months, Loki smiled.

"I'm so glad you see you!"

Thor smiled back, and gently pulled Loki into a hug. "I am glad to see you as well!"

Loki seemed to love the feeling of being held by his brother. He didn't let go for a long time, afraid that if he did Thor might disappear. It wasn't logical, but Loki could not help but be afraid.

Thor rubbed Loki's back as he kept his arms around the smaller man. "Is there anything you need?"

Loki pulled back. "I...I don't know. Bruce and Steven have been helping me."

"They are busy right now. Is there anything I can get for you? Some food or water perhaps? You are still so thin..."

Loki frowned. "I know. But... I'm afraid."

"Of what?"

Loki swallowed nervously. "If I try to eat...I might get sick again." It amazed Loki how easily he could be honest with his brother. They'd fought before but he knew that Thor loved him, no matter what. He took it for granted before but now that love was giving him a new reason to want to keep going.

"I will be here to help you if you get sick, Loki," Thor reassured him.

Loki nodded. "I am hungry."

"Good. I will go get you something." Thor stood up. "I'll be back shortly."

00

While Thor was raiding the kitchen, Bruce, Steve and Tasha had cornered Clint in the living room. He was sitting on the couch, with the other three Avengers pacing in front of him. Now that he had calmed down, Clint felt ashamed of what he had done.

"This is unacceptable," Bruce said, stopping to look at Clint directly in the eyes. "We are here to help Loki. You cannot be pulling stunts like this."

"I know. I was wrong."

"I do not know what your problem is," Bruce continued, "But it has to stop."

"It's hard," Clint replied, his tone barely above a whisper. "Its hard for me to forgive him. I mean, I know what Tony did was wrong. It was terrible. But seeing Tasha care for him makes me upset."

"You should be better than that," Steve said, seriously. "You experienced trauma too, no doubt, but what Loki went through outweighs that. Imagine if you were in his situation!"

"I know! I know. I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say."

"It is my fault too," Tasha said, "I have given Loki much attention. Perhaps I have ignored you."

Though Tasha's statement offered Clint a way out, he didn't take it.

"No. You've treated him the way you would like to be treated. I am the problem, Tasha."

Clint looked sincerely sorry.

"Well, either way, consider this your first and last warning," Bruce said. "We can't have this. Control yourself or go back to SHIELD."

Clint nodded. "I will. I understand."

Tasha sat down next to him, and wrapped an arm around him.

"Clint and I will work things out."

"Good. I'll trust that you're telling the truth."

It was clear that the couple wanted some time alone.

"Let's let them be," Steve suggested to Bruce.

Bruce nodded in agreement, and the two walked out of the room, leaving Clint and Tasha by themselves.

00

Thor came back to Loki's room holding a glass of water and a bowl of oatmeal. Bruce had caught him making it and had stuffed as much milk and sugar into it as possible. Loki could use all the calories he could get. Thor just hoped that it didn't make him sick.

Loki was still sitting up in bed. He was alone, Steve having decided that Thor and Loki needed some time to bond.

"I've brought you some warm cereal," Thor said, once again sitting on the edge of Loki's bed.

The oatmeal smelled pretty good, and his stomach began to growl. Loki blushed. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Thor held up a spoonful of the cereal to Loki's mouth, ready to feed him. Surprisingly, Loki allowed it. To Thor, it was yet more proof of how far his brother had fallen. Loki had always been self sufficient.

It was okay for now, though. Loki needed help and Thor was happy to provide it. He had been angry at Loki at first, after all that had happened in New York a year prior, but having seen how Stark had hurt him, how their father had betrayed him... He could not let Loki stand alone.

Loki swallowed the oatmeal and Thor moved to give him some more. Thor continued to quietly feed his brother until about half of the oatmeal remained. Then Loki asked him to stop.

"Thor...I don't think I can eat anymore," Loki whispered, resting his good hand on his stomach.

Thor understood. He put the bowl down on a nightstand and crawled closer to his brother. It was a struggle, but Loki moved forward just enough for Thor to get behind him. The smaller man lay back, resting his back against Thor's chest and his head against Thor's shoulder.

Thor wrapped his arms around Loki, careful not to hold him too tightly lest he hurt him. Loki was so delicate, and Thor feared accidently harming him.

Loki did not seem to worry about this though. He cuddled up closer to his brother, enjoying the feeling of comfort and love that Thor provided.

00

Thousands of miles away, Tony Stark was searching through the rubble of his lab in an attempt to find the documents that Pepper had left behind. He had to be careful. SHIELD agents had been coming in and out randomly throughout the afternoon, and he was trying to avoid being recaptured.

After several hours of scouring the burned out area, he had come up with nothing. Either SHIELD or Pepper had taken the plans because they did not want him to have them, or the fireproof safe really had not been fireproof and everything had burned up. Either way, he was screwed.

As he stalked out of the building, Tony could feel the anger rising inside him once again. SHIELD must have had something to do with this, and SHIELD would not have been involved had it not been for Loki.

He would have to start all over. Most of the plans were in his head, so it would not be all that hard, it would just take time. Tony's next stop was to the small airport where he kept his private plane. Soon enough he was headed away from the East Coast and back to California. He still had a workshop there, and enough space to rebuild. And rebuild he would. His next creation was to be stronger and more powerful than anything he had made before.


	22. Chapter 22

Ch. 22

Loki had fallen asleep in Thor's arms, feeling safe and secure. He loved the feeling. It was something that he rarely enjoyed. Yet when he woke up, he found that the other half of the bed was empty. A sense of panic soon took hold. It made Loki's stomach hurt and his heart rate soar.

The sound of the door opening caught Loki's attention. He hoped that it was Thor. It wasn't, though. Steve was standing there, holding a tray with some food on it.

"Good morning," Steve said, smiling at Loki.

Loki nodded.

"I brought you some food. Heard that you ate a little last night so we were hoping you could do it again this morning."

"I'm not hungry," Loki whispered.

The expression of loss and sadness was clear as day on Loki's face. Steve felt bad for him.

"Well, want to tell me what's wrong, then?" he asked, putting the tray down and taking a seat on the couch.

Loki shook his head 'no'.

Steve sighed. "Something is bothering you."

Loki frowned. "Where is my brother?"

"He had to leave. Said that he would be back by tonight."

"Where?"

"Somewhere with SHIELD, I assume. They sent a plane early this morning. Clint went with him."

"I slept through it?"

"You sleep like the dead. We were surprised that it did not wake you up, really."

Loki said nothing in reply. He was too busy thinking. The reason that Steven had given for Thor's absence made sense. Of course SHIELD would be working with the Avengers to find out where Stark was. Still, why hadn't Thor woken him up to tell him? Maybe Thor had not wanted him to know. Maybe _he_ was the reason that Thor had gone. He couldn't stand to be around his brother. He was waste, after all. Thor would have no reason to want to be near him. They weren't even related by blood. Maybe all that happened last night was a show of sympathy.

"You okay?" Steve asked, once again breaking Loki's train of thought.

"Yes."

"Okay. Well...are you in pain or anything?"

"Yes."

"I'll go get Bruce to give you some meds, then." Steve stood up, "I'll be right back."

As the door closed, Loki came to a conclusion. He would have to start earning his keep if anyone was to continue to help him. Nothing in life comes for free, not even friendship. Surely Steve wanted more from him than simply to help him. If Thor could leave, then Steve definitely could as well. Loki had a plan, though. He may not have been able to keep Thor around, but maybe he could keep the others.

00

Bruce and Steve came back into Loki's room to find a shocking sight. Loki was lying on the bed, spread eagle and completely naked.

Both Steve and Bruce were taken aback.

"Uh... Loki?" Steve asked, after a few seconds.

"Just don't go too hard, please. I don't care who goes first... or maybe, if we can position it correctly, the both of you could -"

"What are you talking about?!" Bruce asked, horrified at what Loki was implying.

"I am repaying you for your kindness. Please, just... just start slow. It's been a long time since-"

Steve slammed the door shut.

"Loki, we're not going to... Ugh... We're not going to do _that_!"

"I can turn over if you like. Either way. I have no preference."

Bruce shook his head. He found Loki's pajamas, lying in a pile on the floor. He picked them up and threw them at the ex-god.

"Get dressed."

"But-"

"Get. Dressed," Bruce repeated, his jaw clenched.

Loki looked at Steve, a pitiful expression on his face. "Please...I just want to repay you..."

He said something else, but Steve could not make it out.

"What was that?" Steve asked.

"...I don't want to be alone," Loki said, a little louder. He had pushed himself up, now, and was leaning against the headboard. Steve could see tears running down Loki's face.

Steve closed his eyes, trying to calm down. He wanted to scream. Scream and punch something. Punch Tony Stark, really. That evil, sadistic bastard, degrading Loki's sense of self worth to where he thought that he had to put out to have people stay with him.

When he finally felt calm, Steve opened his eyes again. He could see that Bruce was still standing near the bed, but he did not look quite as angry as before. Steve surmised that that was a good thing.

"Loki, you don't need to do... that... to keep us with you. We don't want anything from you except for you to get better."

The dark haired man did not seem to hear him, though. He was again staring down at his hands, still crying.

"I knew it," he whispered, sniffling a little.

Bruce spoke up now. "Knew what?"

"I knew that I was too disgusting for you. I am sorry that I cannot offer you something better."

Bruce wanted to bash his head into the wall, while Steve still felt like he wanted to scream. It was taking all of his power to keep from doing so.

"Please believe us when we say that all we want is to help you," Steve said, "Please believe that."

Loki said nothing.

There was a silence for at least a minute before Bruce started moving.

"You're in pain, right?" he addressed Loki.

Loki nodded.

"Let's get you some meds then. With any luck, they'll calm you down, too."


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: I figured Loki would kind of go up and down. His emotions might jump around a lot, pending on the situation and how comfortable he is. HOWEVER, I'm not sure if this really fits. If people think it does not than I may revise it or change it entirely. I wanted to throw in some fluff too, because Loki needs love, but again, I may change it.**

Ch. 23

"He was just lying there, completely naked, telling us to.. to.. to do _it_ with him!" Steve said, feeling flustered.

He, Bruce and Natasha had gathered in the living room and were discussing what had just happened.

Natasha frowned. "He must think that no one will want to be with him unless he does something to earn it. Is he alright now?"

"I gave him some morphine and it calmed him down. We managed to get him dressed."

"Perhaps I can help."

"I don't know. Steve's basically done everything for him and Loki still can't trust him," Bruce replied.

Natasha shrugged. "What is the worst that could happen?"

"I guess you're right," Bruce answered. "It's worth a shot."

00

Natasha walked into Loki's room with a plate of dessert and a glass of milk. She had knocked, but had gotten no reply, so she quietly slipped in.

She found Loki sitting up in bed, a dazed expression on his face.

"Hello," she said, coming closer to him.

"Hi."

Tasha took a seat on the side of Loki's bed. He made no effort to move.

"I see you still have my present," she said, motioning at the bear that was sitting next to Loki. He'd been keeping it with him. Normally it would have been embarrassing, but Loki was so far past the point of worrying about that type of thing that he didn't care. The bear made him feel better so he kept it.

"Yes... thank you, again," he replied, softly.

Tasha smiled. "It was no problem. I am glad you like it."

Loki nodded, but kept quiet.

"I've brought you something to eat," the agent continued, "Something a little better than the oatmeal that Steven was trying to give you."

Loki's answer was the same as it had been that morning. "I'm not hungry."

"But you are very thin, so you're going to eat. Why don't we make it easy – we'll take it slow and have a talk while you're eating."

Loki sighed. He did not feel like talking. He did not want to upset Natasha either, though. Bruce and Steven were likely too scared to come back anytime soon. She was all he had left.

"What do you want to discuss?"

"Hmm." The agent tried to think of something light hearted. She didn't want to go into anything too deep yet. "Did you name the bear?" She began cutting off a piece of the brownie that she had, ready to feed it to Loki. It wasn't particularly nutritious but he needed calories just as much as he needed vitamins.

"Bo."

"His name is Bo?" she held the fork up to Loki's lips, and he opened his mouth. After he finished chewing, he answered.

"Yes. Bo."

"That is an interesting name. Why did you name him that?"

"It just came to mind. I can't explain it. He seemed like he should be named Bo."

"It's a good name." she fed Loki another piece of the dessert and tried to think of another topic. "Do you like this? I made it."

"It's good. Sweet. We do not have sweet foods like this back..." he trailed off, not wanting to think about the realm where he had grown up. Where Odin was.

"I am sure that your brother will be happy when he hears that you're eating." She held another forkful of the food up to his mouth. Loki ate it reluctantly. A sad look crossed is face, though.

"Thor will not care. He is gone." Loki looked like he was about to cry, now.

Natasha couldn't help but feel sympathy for him. Loki truly looked pathetic. Like a kicked puppy. He really seemed to think that his brother had abandoned him.

When the tears started to flow down Loki's face, Natasha put the brownie on the nightstand and pulled Loki into a hug. At first he froze, unsure of how to react. Then he felt Natasha running her hands up and down his back. It felt good. Frigga used to do something similar, when he was small, and hadn't cared about showing weakness. Loki began to relax. He couldn't stop crying, though.

Natasha did not seem to mind. She quietly held him, gently as possible as not to hurt him in anyway. He was so frail, she feared that she would hurt him if she hugged him too hard. She could feel him pulling on her shirt with his good hand, though. Clinging on to her.

"Your brother is coming back," she whispered, running a hand through Loki's hair. She tried to do that, at least. It was too knotted to get all the way through. She removed her hand as not to pull his hair.

Loki didn't seem to notice, though. He was still upset. Still holding on to her, crying on her shoulder.

"Your brother loves you, Loki," she added.

Loki sniffed, "He left..."

"He left because he was going to find out information to help protect you. He didn't even want to go, Loki. Fury insisted."

Loki pulled back, and Natasha could see how red and puffy his eyes were. He looked a combination of miserable and exhausted.

"You're lying," he whispered, more tears coming, "Please do not lie to me..."

"I'm not lying! You, if anyone, should be able to tell that!"

Loki cringed as Tasha raised her voice, and she made an effort to lower it.

"I promise you that Thor is coming back. This morning, before he left, he told us to tell you that he was sorry and that he would see you later this evening. And that he loved you."

Loki searched Tasha's face for any hint that she was not telling the truth. It was clear that she was being honest, though.

"Please believe me."

"I..I do." Loki took a deep breath in an effort to calm himself. Knowing what Thor had said made Loki feel much better. It was as if someone had switched his emotions. He had been so sad but now he felt extraordinarily happy. It was a bit scary, how quickly his feelings had changed. Loki tried not to think about it.

"Good. Now," she said, grabbing a tissue, "Let's get you a bit more to eat, then I have another treat for you."

00

When Thor and Clint finally returned, it was close to 9pm. Thor was tired – it had been a long day meeting with Fury and the other SHIELD agents, and not much information had been given. It seemed to be a waste to him.

Despite wanting to rest, Thor immediately went to go see his brother. He was pleasantly surprised at what he found when he opened Loki's bedroom door.

His little brother was sitting up in bed, wearing a clean pair of pajamas. His hair was completely brushed out, free of all the knots that had been in it the evening prior. Loki looked cleaner, too. Like someone had scrubbed him down. And, to top it all off, there was an empty plate next to his bed.

"Loki!", Thor said, grinning at him, "You look wonderful!"

Loki cracked a small smile. "Thank you, Thor."

Thor sat down next to him, and pulled Loki into a hug. He was not as gentle as Tasha had been, but Loki didn't care. He was just happy to have his brother back.

After he pulled away, Thor reached out and touched Loki's hair. "Your hair is clean. It looks good. Did you brush it out?"

"Miss Romanov helped. She said that it was the little things that make people feel good so she helped me wash my hair and brush it." Loki blushed as he recounted the story to Thor.

Thor smiled again. "She helped you bathe, too?"

"Yes."

"That is good. It is always good to take care of oneself. And I see that you ate some food, too? I am so proud of you!" Thor patted Loki on the back.

"It was not much. There is nothing to be proud of. I merely ate a brownie.. or whatever it is called. Miss Romanov made it."

"That is more than you have eaten the entire time you have been here. I am proud of you, even if you are not proud of yourself."

Loki nodded, and blushed again. "Thank you." Obviously Thor had not yet spoken to Steven and Bruce. He would be very disappointed once he did. Loki decided just to enjoy his time with Thor now, because he might not be so kind later on.

The brothers shared a comfortable silence, until Thor spoke again. "Brother, you know that I did not want to leave you today, right?"

Loki bit his lip. Natasha had done a good job of reassuring him of that, but prior he had sincerely believed that his brother had intentionally left. Even now, there was still a small bit of doubt in the back of his mind.

Thor shook his head, and rested his hand on Loki's shoulder. "Loki, I want to be here to help you. I had to go because Fury needed me-"

"I know," Loki said, cutting him off. "I know. I understand, now."

"Good. Now... it is getting late. Would you like to rest?"

"Yes, but..." Loki lowered his gaze, "Could you please stay?" the last bit of the sentence was spoken extremely quietly.

Thor had heard him, though. "Of course I will stay with you."

"And... do you have to leave again?"

"No. SHIELD is done with me for now. I will be here all night and when you wake up as well."

"Good," Loki said, as Thor climbed further onto the bed, and moved to sit next to his brother, "I like it when you're here."


	24. Chapter 24

Ch. 24

For the next two weeks, things were surprisingly calm.

SHIELD's intelligence group had determined that Stark was somewhere in California, but they could not pinpoint exactly where. He seemed to be living off the grid. SHIELD continued to look for him, and provided status reports to the Avengers daily.

Though there was still the potential threat of Stark finding him, Loki was doing much better. Thor spent most of his time at his brother's side, talking to him and helping him eat and helping him with anything else that he needed. When Thor was busy, Steve took over. Tasha sometimes helped too.

Clint had been staying away from the entire situation. He was cordial to Loki if he happened to see him, but that was about it. That was fine, though. The rest of the team had begun to trust Clint again, knowing that he would fight to protect Loki even if he didn't particularly like the man.

The result was that Loki was slowly regaining his health. He had put on some weight and was sleeping better. He seemed to be calmer, and slightly more open to talking to the Avengers.

Still, he had a ways to go. He still had some issues with trusting people. He continued to believe that the kindness that the Avengers showed him was conditional, that they would leave him eventually. Steve and Bruce had been talking to him about it, trying to get him to understand that no one wanted anything from him except for him to heal.

And Loki was still in a lot of pain. Since his powers were gone, he healed at the rate that a regular mortal did. His bones were still mending and one wrong touch or movement could cause agony.

Bruce had been treating Loki with medication, but was starting to worry about it. While Loki probably was in tremendous pain, it was starting to become clear that he was also dependent upon the morphine that he was being given. Bruce had noticed that if Loki didn't have it for several hours, he started to get sick. Usually it started with a cold sweat, and then his hands would start to shake. Within the first hour of withdrawal Loki would start getting violently ill. Enough to where Bruce would usually have to administer anti-nausea and anti-diarrhea medication to make it stop.

The problem was that without the medication, Loki's body might literally give out from the pain and the withdrawal on top of it. He was stuck, really. Bruce tried not to think about it as best he could. When Loki's bones and wounds were healed, they could work on weaning him off.

00

Back in the US, Tony had set up in the Los Padres National Forest.

He was living in a small cabin that he'd had built out there as a getaway. Now, it was his permanent residence. It was so deep in the woods that it would be hard for even the most experienced ranger to find.

Tony knew for sure that SHIELD was trying to track him, though. To make their job harder, he had installed a generator powered by one of his Arc Reactor prototypes. It provided just enough electricity for him to do his work, and it also kept him off the grid. Besides that, he had stopped all communication with the outside world. He had thrown his cellphone away long ago. He had even decided not to install JARVIS in the house.

It was quiet where Tony was. Quiet and peaceful. It allowed him to concentrate on the task at hand: Rebuilding his armor.

He had the plans generally memorized, but he was lacking some of the materials needed. It wasn't like he could go order more of them, either. So, Tony had to improvise. He began rebuilding the suit, making adjustments when necessary.

It was taking longer than it had before, but Tony didn't care. He had time. Besides, staying away from Loki would allow him to get comfortable. The shock and pain would be that much greater when he finally showed up.


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: I do not know if Coulson will ever come back from the dead (I read that he might for a certain show, or something – you can look up the character on wikipedia) but for this story I assumed that he is dead and not coming back. Also, sorry if Tony's plan is dumb. I tried to think of what I would do if I were him and this is what I came up with.**

Ch. 25

Tony finished the armor exactly 28 days after he began working on it. It wasn't his old suit, but he had what he needed, along with a few other modifications that would allow him to inflict some serious damage.

During the time that Tony was making the suit, he continually thought of various things that he wanted to do to Loki.

At first, he had wanted to take Loki out quickly. Strike strong and fast and get the job done. The blow to the team's ego would be tremendous. He doubted that Steve or Thor would be able to cope with having allowed Loki to be killed.

Then, as time passed, he realized that he really missed his toy. SHIELD had yet to figure out his location, so he wouldn't have much of a problem keeping Loki there. The main issue with that would be actually capturing Loki. Tony was sure that the others were with him, watching him, ready to fight if attacked.

But Tony was a genius. It didn't take long for him to come up with a plan.

00

There were a few key things that Tony considered when putting his plan together.

One was that, after Agent Coulson had died, Fury had eventually replaced him with a man named Timothy Ballantyne. Timothy was stationed in New York, but if he was doing Coulson's job, he was likely helping to monitor the area around the Avenger's location. Fury would only put his most trusted agent to that task.

Another was that Fury was likely staying close to the Avengers. They were his stars. He needed them. There is no way that Fury would be too far to keep watch on them.

So, Tony readied his suit and made his way to the next state over, staying out of routine flight paths, or any place that he felt SHIELD would monitor. From there, he turned on his hand held computer. He hacked into the SHIELD database and pulled the coordinates for the Avenger's hideout. He then turned the computer off. Next he would begin his journey to the safe house. Even if SHIELD traced his location from the hack, they would only find an empty space in Oregon.

The flight to Scotland was draining, but Tony was determined to get what he wanted. When he touched down, about two hundred miles from his target area, he turned the computer back on, and forced SHIELD's systems to disconnect. Then he made a phone call. Using the voice modification he had installed on his wrist plate, he pretended to be Ballantyne.

"Director Fury, we've got a report of an object coming into the radius of the location," he said. "It's too small to be an aircraft, even a small one, and it's covered in something helping to absorb the radar. It's trying to avoid detection. It might be Stark."

"Shit. How far is it?"

"About fifty miles out. It's moving quickly and should reach the location within the next ten minutes."

"This isn't good. I'm going to warn them. Keep me informed of anything else that happens."

"Will do, sir."

Then Tony hung up.

00

At the safe house, Steve, Thor and Bruce were attempting to calm Loki down, or at least keep him from hurting himself. With many of his wounds healed, Bruce had scaled back Loki's painkillers. This, of course, led to horrible fits of withdrawal.

A few minutes prior, Loki had been clawing at his skin, screaming something about it feeling like it was on fire. Thor had subdued him, and he and Steve had tied Loki to the bed. Both of them felt horrible doing it, but it was for Loki's own good.

Now, the ex-god was lying there, sweating and panting and begging for relief.

"Make it stop…." Loki called out, "Please…."

"It'll stop soon. You need to lie still so I can give you your shot." Bruce said, referring to the methadone that he had been giving Loki for the past day.

"It's not going to do anything! Please, just make it stop." Loki seemed to be crying, now, and it hurt everyone in the room to see it.

Bruce sighed. "It'll stop in another couple of days, Loki. I promise. I know it's bad now but it would be worse if I wasn't giving you the shots."

Loki groaned. Bruce was about to administer the drug when they heard Natasha and Clint start to talk very loudly. Then another voice that they recognized chimed in. Fury was there.

"We ought to go," Steve said, "Something might be up."

"You guys go. I'll give him the methadone and meet you."

"Okay," Steve replied. He and Thor headed out.

When they walked into the living room, they found Nastasha and Clint looking very worried, and Fury looking very annoyed.

"What's going on?" Steve asked.

"Agent Ballantyne reported that an object was heading towards us, too small to be an aircraft, and it's trying to avoid our radar. He and Fury think it may be Tony," Clint answered.

"I need you to be prepared," Fury said, "He could be here any moment. If he shows up, you'll have to fight."

"Obviously," Steve replied.

The group was soon joined by Bruce, who was also informed of the situation.

00

Tony was only about half a mile from the safe house. He was above a wooded area. He pressed a button on his suit and deployed a small explosive device, which fell to the ground. Tony was high enough to avoid any blowback and to avoid being seen or heard. As it was now night time, Tony was sure that the Avengers would have difficulty navigating the mass of trees.

Within seconds, the Avengers were out of the house, running towards the explosion. They likely assumed that Tony was there and was attempting to cause some type of trouble. From where he was, he could see that Clint, Thor, Steve, Fury and Natasha were on the way. That left Bruce with Loki.

Quietly, he made his way towards the safe house. There were two lights on, one in a room in the front of the house, one in a room off to the side. As it was unlikely that one would design a house with a bedroom directly in the front, he went for the side. It soon became clear that he had made the correct choice. He could see Bruce in the room, standing near Loki, who was lying in bed.

"Well, here goes," he mumbled to himself, before using his repulsor to blow open the window.

The Hulk would have proved a worthy adversary, had Bruce had a chance to transform. However, Tony had the element of surprise on his side. Before Bruce could blink, Tony had stunned him with a high powered taser. Just another one of the little modifications he had made to the suit. The force of it was enough to knock Bruce unconscious.

Tony strode over to the bed. Loki had a blank look on his face, almost as if he were in shock. He probably was. Tony doubted that he had expected any of this. He noted that Loki was tied to the bed.

"Wow, they made this real easy. You can't even_ try_ to run," Tony said, as he began cutting the restraints.

Within a minute, he had Loki in his arms, and was flying back towards California.


	26. Chapter 26

Ch. 26

By the time they got back to the national park, Loki was barely alive. Tony had to fly high to avoid detection and it was only by some miracle that Loki had survived the low levels of oxygen and the cold. Needless to say, he wasn't conscious when Tony touched down.

That just made Tony's task easier. He left Loki on the floor while he removed his suit, then picked him back up. Loki wasn't quite as light as he remembered. Still, it didn't take much effort to get him to the bed that had been prepared. He threw Loki on it face down, and spread his limbs out, tying each one to a corner of the bed.

00

The first thing that Loki thought upon waking up was that it had all been a horrible, horrible dream. The fact that he could feel that his limbs were tied down attested to this. He remembered Thor and Steve doing that, restraining him for his own good. But.. they had tied him face up, and now he was lying on his stomach.

Then he opened his eyes. He couldn't see all of the room, considering the position he was in, but he could tell that the room he was in didn't look like the one he had been staying in at the safe house. This one was smaller, neater. The walls were painted gray, whereas the walls in his room had been painted white. The bed that he was lying on was smaller, too. Fuck. It had all been real.

A sound brought Loki's attention to the door. Stark was standing there, grinning.

"Sleep well?" he asked, walking over.

Loki didn't answer. What use was it? Stark would punish him no matter what. He may as well maintain some level of dignity.

"Not gonna talk? That's okay. You don't need to talk for what's about to happen."

Loki cringed. He couldn't help it. He had an idea of what Stark was about to do, and was dreading it. His worst fears were confirmed when Tony began unbuttoning his jeans.

"See, I tied you up that way for a reason. Easy access." The bed dipped as Tony got on. "It's been too long since I've had any fun. Your little friends took you away from me. You're going to pay for that."

Tony wasted no time getting into it. Just thinking about being inside of Loki had made him hard, and he thrust in and out quickly, going in as deep as possible.

This time, Loki didn't cry. Not when he felt his flesh tear apart. Not when Tony bit him, or when Tony pulled his hair. Not even when Tony took a knife and started carving lines into his back.

00

It hadn't taken long for the Avengers to figure out what had happened. Tony had tricked them all. Everyone was upset, but Bruce was the most disturbed. He couldn't forgive himself. He was supposed to protect Loki, and he had let Tony take him.

Now, the group was on a flight back to the US. Thor had joined the team on the plane, rather than going alone. He was pacing frantically, worried about his brother. A few feet away, Clint and Tasha were trying to console Bruce, while Steve was staring out the window at the clouds. He, too, felt very bad about what had happened, but he was keeping it to himself.

On the plus side, SHIELD had been able to get its system online and narrow down a general area where they thought Tony was. The whole radius was about fifty miles, but the Avengers were more than willing to search it. They even had a plan - Thor would do his best to get an aerial view while Bruce, Steve, Tasha and Clint spread out in various directions, to cover more ground.

They only had an hour to go before they arrived, but to the team, it felt like an eternity.

00

For someone who was so intelligent, Tony was very careless. Once he had finished with Loki, he had tossed this knife that he had been using onto the bed. It was just out of Loki's grasp. No doubt Tony believed that the restraints holding the ex-god would keep him from doing anything but lying still.

Needless to say, this made it easier for Loki. He had assumed that he would have had to find a way to get Tony to untie him, but now all he had to do was move his hand a few inches over. He was still weak, so pushing against the restraints hurt a lot. His bones were not fully healed. Loki didn't care, though. If he was determined enough, his pain would end soon.


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: I owe you all a decent end to this story - at least, I HOPE it's decent - so I'm posting the next chapters up in succession. Sorry for the wait. Thank you so much for reading and all of the wonderful reviews, they sincerely made me happy. I will be posting an epilogue shortly. **

Ch. 27

Twelve hours after landing, none of the Avengers had yet to find Tony's residence. Instead, everyone was tired, sweaty, and generally miserable. They had covered over thirty miles between all of them and had not taken any time to rest. Now, it was getting dark. The group met up at a previously designated spot and decided to camp.

"How do you think we should go about the search in the morning?" Natasha asked. She and Bruce were working on starting a fire.

"Well, we've covered most of the ground nearby. I would say that we should focus on making our way to the other side of the park and searching there," Clint suggested.

"I agree," Steve said, "He's not here. He's got to be on the other side, we were too thorough to miss him."

Thor sighed loudly, and everyone turned to look at him.

"Are you okay?" Steve asked.

"I am worried about my brother."

Clint frowned sympathetically, and put a hand on Thor's shoulder.

"Don't worry. We'll find him soon."

00

Withdrawal could not have come at a worse time for Loki. He had been attempting to reach the knife for hours, and was _this _close to actually reaching it when the symptoms came on.

It started with a cold sweat, followed by a feeling of nausea. An hour in, his hands and legs started shaking.

Loki wondered if maybe the withdrawal would kill him. It would be great if it did, even if it was a fairly painful way to go.

Of course, he wasn't so lucky. Tony came in a few minutes after the shaking started.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" he asked, looking Loki over. "Are you sick?"

Loki shook his head 'no', but did not verbally reply. Maybe if he kept quiet, Tony would go away.

Tony's eyebrows furrowed. He took hold of Loki's arm, and untied it so that he could examine it. There were needle marks around his wrist and on his forearm.

"Banner gave you drugs, didn't he." It wasn't a question, more of a statement.

Loki didn't reply.

Tony sighed. "Well, considering your past injuries, it's likely that he gave you an opiate to help with the pain. I'm thinking Morphine or Dilaudid. You must be going through withdrawal. But don't worry, that's easy enough to fix."

Tony retied Loki's arm.

"I'll be right back," Tony said. Then he walked off.

00

When Tony returned, he was holding a syringe filled with a cloudy white liquid.

"Here we go. Crushed Morphine in a saline solution. Should do the trick."

Again he untied Loki's arm. He steadied as best he could, and injected Loki with the drug.

"Don't want you dying on me, now," Tony said. "You're too fun to let go of."

Loki kept quiet, as he had before. He could feel the drug taking effect. It made him feel hazy, but good. Soon enough he stopped shaking, and his temperature returned to normal. Then he began to feel tired.

Loki slept for several hours. Tony made it a point to leave him alone. He intended to play with Loki for quite a while, and he wanted the man to have his strength.


	28. Chapter 28

Ch. 28

The high lasted for a few hours. Loki enjoyed it. He might as well, he figured. It felt nice to relax, not to worry about his present situation.

Then he began to come down. His body hurt again. He started to feel miserable. All he wanted was an out, to end this pain permanently.

He again noticed the knife, sitting there, almost taunting him.

'Fuck it,' he thought to himself. Tony had retied his restraints slightly looser than he had the first time, giving Loki a bit more room to move. He pushed his arm forward and grabbed the knife on the first try. Thank the Gods! Now all he had to do was hope that Tony didn't come back within the next few minutes.

00

"I think I found it," Natasha whispered into microphone. The whole group was maintaining communication via wireless earpiece sets.

Steve was the first to reply.

"What do you see?"

Natasha quietly slipped out of her hiding place behind a bunch of bushes. She wanted to get a better look.

"It's a shack. Two rooms at most. There's a generator hooked up to it."

"That sounds right. Where are you?"

"Six miles East of the Caliente Range. I'll send you the exact coordinates."

"Great. Okay. Everyone meet up there as soon as possible," Steve said, addressing the rest of the group. "Whoever gets there first, help Tasha get in. See if you can get Loki. The rest of us will join in as we can."

00

Clint ended up being the first one to get there. He and Natasha took a few minutes to devise a plan for getting inside. They decided that Clint would distract Tony while Tasha went to get Loki. Being the more agile of the two, she would have a better chance of getting Loki out.

Quietly, the two took their positions, Clint on a hill, where he had a clear shot through a window, and Natasha around the back of the shack near the room that looked like a bedroom. Clint knew that he would be unlikely to hit Tony, since he couldn't see through the thick curtains, but at least he would probably catch Tony's attention.

Taking a deep breath, Clint fired the arrow. It broke through the class and flew into the shack, hitting something inside. Natasha then slipped in. Clint got closer, watching for any signs of Tony or Natasha.

A minute passed. There was nothing.

Finally, Clint spoke up.

"Natasha, are you there?"

"I'm here," she replied. "Along with Stark. You'd better come see this."

Confused, Clint entered through the same window that Tasha had broken to get in. Once inside, he found Natasha, standing next to Tony, who was lying flat on the ground, clearly unconscious. Her gaze was focused on the bed in the middle of the room. The one that Loki had been tied too. Except now, the ties had been cut, and Loki was lying there, covered in blood. His throat was slit, almost from ear to ear.

"Oh my god," Clint whispered.

"Looks like we were too late. It must've caught Stark off guard too, because it wasn't a problem to take him down." She patted the tazer that was hooked to her belt.

Clint raised a hand to cover his mouth. The scene was sickening. There was so much blood... it was everywhere, even on the ceiling. Clint briefly wondered how that had happened.

"I guess he killed himself?" Clint asked.

"Yes. I am surprised that Stark allowed that to happen."

Clint sighed. "Maybe he was too caught up in having his fun to realize that Loki was capable of it."

"Perhaps."

The sound of something crashing then caught Clint and Tasha's attention. The other Avengers had arrived.


	29. Chapter 29

A/N: Yeah, ok, I took some liberties with this. I'm not sure if Thor's powers would increase or not, but what the hell, it's fiction.

Ch. 29

Bruce had cried when he first saw Loki's body. Clint had expected that.

Steve had gotten sick, and had run off to vomit in the corner of the room. Clint wasn't too surprised by that, either.

He _was_ surprised by Thor's reaction, though. The thunder god had taken one look at his brother's body, then had quietly walked outside. He swung Moljnir around, and was gone within seconds.

Clint had figured that Thor would have wanted to beat Tony's unconscious body to death, or to tie Tony up so that he could slowly kill him later. You know, exact some type of revenge for his brother's demise.

"Maybe he needs to be alone," Natasha suggested.

Thor wasn't going to be alone, though. Instead, he was flying through the atmosphere, into space, headed towards Asgard. Normally, Thor wouldn't have had the strength to do this on his own. But that was the thing about certain gods, if their emotions were strong enough, they were able to amplify their powers. At the rate he was going, Thor would be on his home realm within only a few minutes.

00

Thor landed directly outside of his father's castle. Without missing a beat, he walked towards it, shoving the doors open. The guards stared at him, wondering how he had returned to Asgard without any help, but he gave them no time to question him. He was on a mission. If Odin wouldn't help Loki on his own, then Thor would force him to do so.

He found his father and mother sitting in the throne room. Both looked shocked as Thor walked in.

"What are you doing here? How did you get here?" Odin asked, standing up.

Thor said nothing, but continued walking towards him. When he reached his father, his first act was to wrap his hand around Odin's neck. Using his newfound strength, he easily overpowered Odin, shoving him back against a wall.

"What...are...you...doing?" Odin choked out.

Frigga attempted to pull Thor off of him, but Thor easily pushed her away.

"Loki is dead," Thor spat, "I am here to demand that you restore him. Restore his powers, bring him back."

Odin's eyes narrowed into slits. "I...will..not..."

Thor pushed up against Odin's throat even harder, completely cutting off his airway.

"If you do not do it, I will be forced to kill you and restore him myself." With his free hand, he held up Moljnir, in an attempt to prove his point.

Odin did not answer. This angered Thor even more. He began to raise the hammer up, ready to strike Odin. In the background, Frigga begged for her husband's life. Thor tuned most of it out, though. He was just about to bring the hammer down when he saw Odin's lips move. Thor lessened the pressure on Odin's throat ever so slightly, giving him the ability to speak, albiet barely.

"You're going to destroy everything," Odin said, "Loki will destroy everything. But... you've given me no choice."

Odin moved his right hand, which was at his side, and a golden glow surrounded it. He closed his eyes, and the gold specks moved from his hand towards the ceiling, before going through it.

"Is he alive?" Thor asked, not willing to let Odin go unless he was assured of this.

"He will be shortly."

Thor said nothing else. He released Odin, and the older god fell to the floor. Thor turned and began to walk out, intent on going back to Midgard.

00

Back in Tony's shack, a miracle seemed to be happening. Several golden specks had entered the room, and were surrounding Loki's body.

Unsure of what was going on, the Avengers quietly watched.

As the particles touched Loki, the color slowly began to return to his skin. The terrible, deep cut on his throat slowly began to stitch itself closed. The cuts on his back began to heal, and then, Loki's eyes opened.

He coughed a bit at first, then looked around.

"What happened...?" he asked. He could feel his magic returning, his internal wounds healing and his bones mending. "How...?"

"We're just as lost as you are," Steve said, shaking his head.

"Thor must have gone back to Asgard," Bruce stated, "That's the only way."

"He couldn't have gotten there on his own, though," Steve replied.

"If he was upset enough, he could have," Loki whispered. The expression on his face fell as he considered this, and looked around the room. Someone had thrown up in the corner. Bruce looked like he had been crying. Loki had hurt the people who cared about him most. He had been selfish. So terribly selfish.

"I'm so sorry," he mumbled, not daring to look anyone in the eye. "I couldn't take it anymore. I hadn't meant to hurt you..."

"At least you're back," Tasha said, "That is what matters. Now, we just have to figure out what to do with Mr. Stark, here."


	30. Chapter 30

Ch. 30

The first thing that the group did was tie Tony to a chair. Without his suit, he would be unable to escape.

The next thing they did was debate what to do with him.

"We could take him to SHIELD," Steve said. "That's what Fury would want us to do, at least."

"Yeah, but are they really doing to punish him?" Tasha asked. "They didn't do a good job of keeping him locked up last time."

"True. We could let The Other Guy have another shot at him," Steve replied, looking at Bruce.

Bruce smiled. "I doubt that would be a problem."

"Perhaps you should let my brother have his fun?" Loki suggested, weakly.

"Hmmm... That might not be a bad idea," Steve said, grinning at the thought himself.

00

Thor showed up some time later, Stark having woken up just a few minutes prior.

When he had heard that the others planned to let Thor punish him, he had begged to be taken into SHIELD custody. Stark had even promised to donate his entire fortune to SHIELD, and his suits, along with their plans, too.

Everyone ignored him, though.

When Thor entered, he immediately walked over to Loki, and embraced his brother in a tight hug. The two stayed that way for quite a while, neither willing to let go.

"I'm so sorry," Loki whispered, tears forming in his eyes.

"It's alright, brother," Thor replied, "I understand your actions."

After the moment was over, Bruce spoke up.

"We were, uh, going to let you deal with Tony. Maybe we should take Loki outside...?"

Thor smirked. "There is no need for that."

He quickly moved towards Tony, who looked absolutely terrified.

"Please, Thor, have some merc-"

Tony's request was cut off. In one swift move, Thor had reached down and snapped his neck, killing him instantly.

Everyone stood by, staring.

"Wow. That was... anti-climatic," Clint said, speaking what was on everyone's minds.

"I did not wish to use any more energy on him. He was not worthy of that," Thor explained.

"Wow," Clint repeated. "So...Now what?"

"Now we go tell Fury what happened," Tasha answered.

"He's going to be pissed," Steve added.

00

Indeed, Fury was pissed. He had spewed out more curses than Steve could count when he had been informed of Iron Man's death. He seemed to understand the team's actions, at least.

"This is going to be one hell of a PR disaster," Fury said, sighing.

"As if it wasn't already," Bruce replied.

"And now you're officially down a teammate. Christ." Fury pinched the bridge of his nose. "Well, we'll come up with something. Tony took down Loki, died in a freak accident. Loki, we'll have to keep you a secret."

Loki frowned. "Am I a prisoner of SHIELD, then?"

Fury looked at him like he had six heads. "Prisoner? No, of course not. I simply meant that you'll have to stay out of sight. Maybe the others could take you in."

Loki fulled expected everyone to say no to this. Even though they had been nice to him, and had saved him, he didn't expect their generosity to extend past 'doing the right thing' and dealing with Stark.

To his surprise, everyone shrugged.

"I'm cool with that," Bruce said.

"Yeah. Why not? I could find a bigger apartment and you could live with me, if you wanted," Steve offered.

"Loki is my brother," Thor said, "He should stay with me."

Clint cleared his throat interupting everyone.

"Now, now, let's not fight. Why don't we let Loki choose where he wants to live?"

Everyone turned to look at Loki.

"Well... there seems to be some open real estate where Stark Tower used to be, yes?"

"There is," Fury answered.

"Perhaps SHIELD would find the location useful as an official headquarters. There would be more than enough space for everyone there."

Fury thought this over for a moment. "You know, Loki, that's actually a good idea."


	31. Chapter 31

Epilogue

Loki had ended up staying with Steve until the new Avengers HQ had been completed. Steve was very easy to get along with, and the arrangement allowed Thor to travel to and from New Mexico to visit Jane without worrying about leaving Loki alone.

Even though Loki was fully physically healed and immortal once again, Thor was still protective of him. The others were, too. The problem was that Loki was still psychologically scarred by all that had happened. Several times each week, Steve would wake up to the sound of Loki screaming and would have to come in, wake him up from the nightmare that he was having, and hold him until he was calm.

For Loki, the incidents were always humiliating. Sometimes he would cry, not because of the dreams that he had, but because of how embarrassing it was for Steve to have heard him and to have to come in. Of course, crying just made him feel worse. It was a strange, horrible cycle.

Steve was good about it, at least. He never complained, not even when there were several nightmares and he barely got any sleep.

During the times when he was in New York, Thor would stay at Steve's apartment as well and would sleep in the same room as Loki. Loki would never admit it, but it helped having his brother there to protect him. When Thor was there he slept better, felt safer.

Everyone else was supportive, too. Even Clint.

Once the HQ building had opened, the group had made themselves at home, each taking a floor for their own use. Clint and Natasha soon found themselves essentially living together, and something about that seemed to make Clint calmer.

Even though Loki was officially "good", getting along with everyone and living at HQ, he did not consider himself part of the Avengers team. When they would go out to fight an enemy, he would stay behind at the building. Occasionally, though, things would happen. Some type of magic would destroy the enemy's main mode of transportion, or enemy foot soldiers would disappear, as if magically teleported away. Loki would never confirm nor deny that he had intervened but everyone knew that he likely had.

So, time went on. As the months passed, Loki's issues slowly began to subside. Other heroes joined the team. One was a man who went by the moniker 'Falcon'. He hadn't been pleased to hear that Loki was alive and living with the Avengers, but after hearing the whole story and actually meeting Loki, he changed his mind.

All in all, things were okay. As okay as they could be, at least. The others knew that it might take many more months, even years for Loki to fully heal. They'd all be there to help him get through it for however long it took.

END

**A/N: And all is right with the world, lol.**


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